Please Forgive Me
by TheCatWithTheHat
Summary: Three are gone. One is paying for her brief fun. One is scared of a new power he's developing. Will the appearance of a girl who knows their past, present and future like she wrote it herself save the flock? Or will it destroy them? Fax! R&R! -Complete-
1. Eggs,Erasers, version 10,5

**Hey, all, this is my second fanfiction, tell me if you like! (Yes, that's all.)**

**P.S.: If there was a T-plus, that's what I'd rate this.**

"AAAARRRGHH!"

I sat bolt upright in bed, chest heaving. I twisted my head and backed away from the dark – _thing _ – in my bed.

"What are you _doing_ here?" I growled.

Fang smiled and adjusted hi s position, resting his head on his hands. "I had a nightmare, Mommy," he squeaked. "I was scared."

"Get your ass out of my bed," I spat. "And put a shirt on! This is just awkward, Fang!"

"You want me to make it awkward?" Fang leered."'Cos I can make it awkward."

"I believe you." I scooted farther away from him, pulling the blankets with me. They slithered off of his bare chest, revealing his black sweatpants. I heaved a sigh of relief. At least he was wearing _something_ else."Now get out of bed – of my – of –" I sputtered, suddenly all-too-aware of my spaghetti strap tank top and tiny shorts.

"Max?" came Iggy's voice. "Are you coming for breakfast or not?" He threw the door open, and I cringed, then remembered that he couldn't see. _Thank God._

"We're coming," Fang said from the bed next to me.

Iggy stiffened. "Ooh, someone's been naughty," he chuckled. That was the last straw. I lashed out with my foot and sent Fang tumbling off of the edge of the bed. What? It wasn't a queen-size.

Unfortunately, Fang may be an insufferable jerk, but he was still smart. Which was why, before he fell, he grabbed the edge of the blanket, which I was still holding. I shrieked as I was dragged off the bed after him, landing in a heap on top of his shoulders.

"Oof," I moaned.

"Um…I'll leave you all to it," Iggy muttered, snickering. Then he closed the door and retreated downstairs, laughing his head off.

"Faaanng," I whined, "why –"

Fang stood so quickly I had no time to react. One moment we were crumpled on the floor, and the next I was slung over his shoulders like a lamb, his hands gripping my wrists and ankles.

"FANG!" I shouted in his ear. As usual, he remained expressionless. He grabbed the door knob, transferring my feet to his other hand, and slipped out into the hallway.

I can assure you that I did not go quietly. I kicked and struggled, but for all my awesome birdgirl superstrength, Fang had awesome birdBOY superstrength. And it normally just works out that boys are stronger than girls. Especially Fang. His arms were looking bigger, I wondered if-

_Snap out of it,_ I told myself, and renewed my squirming. Too late.

"I've got a captive!" Fang shouted the second we stepped into the kitchen. The younger kids cheered, Nudge waving her fork in the air, Gazzy with his mouth full of yellow eggs. Angel smiled sheepishly, then returned to trying to stab an egg with a fork that had dulled edges. It was not working. Iggy modestly flipped another egg three, six, nine feet into the air and caught it right smack in the center of the pan.

"That's mine," I said groggily, pointing at the egg Iggy was making in resigned defeat.

Gazzy smiled suddenly. "Hey, Max," he said, "want some of my eggs?"

"Sure, Gaz," I said suspiciously.

He picked up the plate and made toward me with it, smiling angelically. Then he grabbed a fistful of egg and shoved it in my mouth.

"MM!" Indignant, I tried to spit the egg at Gazzy. But he ducked, and a wad of yellow, spitty eggs hit Fang in the head.

"Gross!" Nudge shrieked. Fang raised his eyebrows at me and shook his head. The eggs came flying off and hit Gazzy.

"EEW!" Gazzy yelled.

Suddenly, the house shook. Smoke filled the air, coming from God-knows-where. Iggy dropped the frying pan, and Angle dropped her plastic fork. Nudge's curls vibrated, making her head look even frizzier than before.

"Gazzy!" Nudge and I yelled, while Angel yelled "Iggy!" at the same time.

Confused, the boys shook their heads.

Instead of putting me down, Fang hitched me into a better position and ran outside onto the porch. The flock followed suit.

Then he stopped abruptly. Nudge hit him, but he didn't even sway.

Standing on the front porch was eight Erasers. The one in the front stepped forward and smiled cruelly, like the evil jerk he was. I didn't recognize any of them, but that wasn't really a surprise.

"Having fun?" he asked, looking pointedly at the egg on Gazzy's shirt. He blushed and wiped it off. I boiled in indignation.

"Let me down!" I hissed in Fang's ear. He moved his head sideways, so subtle that any mere human wouldn't have noticed it.

"What do you want?" Fang growled menacingly. Even I shuddered. The Erasers glanced at one another, shifting positions.

"We," growled the one in front, "want _you_."

With that, he launched himself at Nudge.

Eight Erasers – well, I'd eaten worse for breakfast. _Angel _had eaten worse for breakfast. But these Erasers were – seemingly – undefeatable. And it didn't help that we were wearing our pajamas, with no shoes on so it didn't hurt as much when we kicked 'em where it counts.

It still hurt, though. After Fang had – finally – put me down, and I'd kicked another Eraser double, I noticed something on the back of its neck. A seam.

"Nudge! Gazzy! Angel!" I shouted. "Back of their necks, on three!"

All three kids heaved their hands on the top of the Eraser's spines.

And all three kids disappeared.

With all of the Erasers.

Just like that, me, Fang, and Iggy were the only ones left on the porch. A bird chirped.

"Wh-what?" I exclaimed. "Where are they?"

"Gone," Fang stated.

"Well, thank you, Captain Obvious," I snarled, "for pointing that out. And may I ask you where you parked your ship? The ocean?"

"I don't own a ship," Fang explained, rolling his eyes.

I punched him. His nose started bleeding. He stared at me, shock and hurt registering in his eyes.

"I'M NOT AN IDIOT!" I shouted, getting in his face. "I KNOW YOU DON'T HAVE A DAMNED SHIP! ITS CALLED _SARCASM_, MORON! YOU HAVE RUINED MY ENTIRE DAY! SO FAR! I'VE HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH YOU!"

Fang leaned away from me, blood dripping off of his face. I whirled around and stomped off the porch, storming down to the mystery-flower bushes. They were like…hydrangeas, or – or chrysanthemums, or-

"Women," Iggy murmured to Fang, who was silent.

Were they really joking around? Our younger half had just disappeared! Iggy's _best friend_ had just disappeared! And he was making sexist jokes?

I stood suddenly.

"We're going to go get them," I announced to the bush.

The bush did not reply. I looked up at Fang and Iggy, who were now arguing about something.

"Be glad you're staying here," I told the bush. "You should feel very, very lucky."

"Are you talking to that bush?" Fang called.

I straightened. "No!" I shouted at the boys, then looked back at the bush. "Sorry. I have a reputation to uphold. Bye, now. Don't go anywhere."

Then I leapt over the flowers to tell the boys.

**There she be. Hope you like it.**

**Review! And check out my other story, Typical Mutant. It's better than this one. I'm just updating this one whenever I get a chance.**

**Adios,**

**Schne**


	2. Surprise, Part 1

**A/N: Alrighty, then. I'm going to try to get this done tonight. If I can't, well, then that just stinks for you. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. Unfortunately. **

Twelve hours later, we were all holed up in a cave somewhere. We were probably somewhere in Nevada, in the Rockies, because we'd wanted to get far away. Iggy was complaining loudly about the lack of frying pan, and me and Fang were just sitting together, enjoying the feeling of being close to one another.

"What's up?" he murmured.

"Nothing much," I replied. "Just stressed about the kids, wondering what happened, wishing Iggy would shut up, the usual." Just because I blew a casket at him earlier, AND he crawled into my bed last night, didn't mean I didn't still love him.

The side of Fang's mouth quirked. "Anything else?" He turned to look at me straight on.

"Er…no," I stammered, my mouth going dry.

"Good," he said, resuming his position. "I was worried that I'd have to tell you to get a life. You know, when you say, "Nothing," then you automatically don't have a life."

"Maybe I do have a life," I muttered. "It's just too complicated for your brain to handle."

"Try me," he said, and then grabbed my face and kissed me. Hard.

My brain shorted out as usual. I was just getting lost in the kiss when –

"Get a room," Iggy shouted, waving the spatula that was still in his back pocket from breakfast.

Fang untangled himself from me. "Get lost," he yelled, then was about to kiss me again, when Iggy yelled:

"Then would you turn down the volume? I'm having a hard time hearing myself think."

"That's it." Fang started to get up, but I pulled him back down.

"Go get a frying pan," I yelled to Iggy. "Then you would shut up _and_ be happy."

"How about…not," Iggy answered. "The nearest town is like two hours away!"

"So?" I asked. "You'll have a chance to get the very thing you want most in the world. You'll be gone for about two hours. Maybe you'll make some friends, for once. No one will see you flying because it's dark out. You'll have a chance to stretch your wings and stay up 'til the crack of dawn, like you always complain you never get a chance to do. You'll –"

"Okay, okay, I'm going," Iggy said. "Don't go anywhere." He sprang up from the rocky ground. "I'm going to that one we passed over. The last town that we passed over."

"Go for it," I said. Iggy leapt off the ledge, spread his magnificent, gray speckled wings, and flew away.

I turned to Fang. "Now what?"

"Now," he murmured, "we have some fun."

He grabbed me again and held my face to his. Then he stretched his lips out, connecting the small space between us. We sank sideways onto the rock, and I lost track of everything – even myself.

******3 Hours Later******

I was curled in Fang's arms, content. Content but exhausted. Well, it _was _around one in the morning. Thankfully, the only clothes I'd brought were my pajamas, which I was wearing now. Too bad they were going to get all dusty.

"Hello?"

I sat up fast, but Fang didn't stir. I looked down on him for a moment, but then slipped out of his secure hold and went to the opening of the cave, which wasn't in sight from where Fang and I had – well, you get the picture.

"Max."

My heart stopped.

"What are _you_ doing here?" I accused.

"Looking for you," said Dylan.

I snorted angrily. "I can see that. Well, I'm not available. So you can just call back at a later time."

"Fine," said Dylan. He walked around the side of the cave for about two seconds, then walked back. "I'm back. So can I stay here with you guys?"

"What's up?" Fang asked, coming in from behind me. I turned to look at him. His dark pants were low-slung on his hips, and he was rubbing his eyes tiredly. Then he focused on Dylan.

"Oh, he said in a tone that indicated that he'd just found a piece of slime on his shoe. "You."

"Me," said Dylan gruffly, trying to sound more mature. And failing miserably.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, stepping forward and wrapping his arms around me. I grasped his elbows and leaned on his arm.

"Er…looking for Max, actually," he said honestly. "And the rest of the flock. Speaking of which…where are they?" He leaned to the side, trying to see around me and Fang.

"Iggy's out," Fang said shortly. "And the rest are AWOL."

"I see," Dylan asked, obviously wondering what AWOL meant but not asking in fear of looking like an idiot. "Well…can I come in?"

"Um…sure," I said. I propelled Fang backward to allow Dylan inside.

While Dylan wandered, Fang pulled me over to a corner to ask me something.

"Why did he show up?" he hissed. I shrugged, which he apparently didn't like, because he said, "And is he still on about that whole "soul mate" thing?"

"He shouldn't be," I replied, "unless he's talking about me and you." I know, I know. That was un-Max-like and mushy, but who cares. Fang and I were past that.

"Look," I continued, "I have absolutely no feelings for Dylan. Any trace of affection I may have had prior to this morning has been utterly wiped away. I mean, he could have waited five or six hours to come, so that we might have actually been awake. But nooo. So…" I smiled up at him. "I'm all yours."

My heart thudded in my chest, hoping that he would believe me.

He caught me up in a one-armed hug and kissed me. My heart careened against my chest, wanting more…but Dylan was here. Damn him. I clutched Fang's back instead, pressing into him.

Someone coughed behind us. I didn't care about Dylan seeing us. I wanted him to know that I didn't care about his bullshit puzzle pieces.

"Max?" a broken voice asked.

I whirled around. "What?" I snapped.

"Can I talk to you privately?" Dylan's voice was hurt sounding.

"Okay." I followed him away from Fang, whose dark eyes stayed on my back, watching me. "What do you want?" I asked when we were out of earshot.

"Look," Dylan said. "I thought that Dr. Hans made it clear that we were meant to be together."

"Oh, he made it clear all right," I spat, "just as clear as pea soup. I was already done playing your stupid games of world domination, all right? And then you had the nerve to mess with my love life? What gives you that right?"

Dylan leaned away from me. "I just –"

"I'll fall in love with whoever the hell I want," I snapped, "and nothing anyone says is going to make me change that. Now you and Fang can fight it out like dogs or you can accept that I don't want you."

I turned on my heel and marched out of the cave, both boys staring at my back, with the word "Touché" running over and over through my head.

**Touché, huh? Review!**


	3. Pancakes and some Nasty Things

**A/N: Some people say that I can't have two stories going on at once.**

**I say "Screw you."**

**P.s. Typical Mutant is **_**much**_** better than this. Go check it out. If you like it better, review and tell me. If you don't, review and tell me. *Winks.***

**Love You All 3 3 3 3 **

**Schne**

"HEY! I'M BACK!"

Iggy landed in the cave, spewing dust everywhere and waving his new frying pan about by the handle. He was also wearing a new backpack that fitted around the insides of his wings.

I sat up from Fang's embrace for the second time that night and rubbed my eyes blearily. "I can see that," I mumbled. It came out like "I cah hee haa."

"Who is _this_?" Iggy asked, stumbling over Dylan, who was curled up next to the entrance.

"Don't you recognize me?" Dylan asked, sitting up.

"I'm _blind_, moron." Iggy stalked away from Dylan, who looked confusedly after him. He glanced at me, and I ripped my eyes away.

"What's in the bag?" Fang mumblegrumbled from behind me. **(I just made that word up. **** Mumblegrumble mumblegrumble mumblemumblemumblegrumble.)**

"Stuff to fry." Iggy dumped the contents of the bag onto the dusty floor of the cave. He pawed through the pile until he found a box of strike-anywhere matches. Then he opened the box expertly and grabbed a match, splintering it under his eager fingers.

"Oops."

"Someone needs to take that away from him before someone gets hurt," Fang called out. I laughed and settled back into his arms.

Iggy eventually got a fire going and set up the pan over it, propped over some sticks. He ripped open a package of bacon and laid the strips on the pan, filling the cave with the noise of sizzling grease. The smell was intoxicating, and my mouth watered.

While the bacon was frying, Iggy added some milk and eggs to some Bisquik-in-a-bowl. He scraped the bacon off the pan and put it on his new backpack.

"Now it's broken in," he said, and Dylan laughed. Fang gave him a death glare, and he shut up fast.

Iggy poured the pancake mix into the pan, managing three pancakes at once. I reached for a piece of bacon, munching on it absently as I watched Iggy flip the 'cakes. Up and down, up and down. Wow, he was good. For a blind guy.

He tossed me and Fang two of the pancakes and handed the third to Dylan. I folded mine up and shoved in my mouth whole. Fang ate his in two quick, rapid bites, and Dylan nibbled on his like a mice to cheese. A mouse to cheese, whatever. It fit Dylan perfectly.

"Next up," Iggy announced, "is for the cook."

He flipped a pancake up high, waiting for it to descend. When it was a foot away from his head, he tilted his face back and opened his mouth. The pancake landed inside, with half of it dangling out. Iggy snapped his mouth closed and grinned, pulling the rest of the pancake in with his tongue.

"Grooossssss," I moaned, shielding my face. Something crispy hit my hand, and I opened my eyes to see a large piece of bacon sitting in my lap from where it had fallen from my face. That boy had damn good aim.  
"Thanks for the bacon," I muttered, picking it up off my PJs and jamming it into my mouth.

Iggy just grinned. Weirdo. He tossed me another pancake like a Frisbee, and I grabbed from the air. This time, I ate it slower, suddenly aware of the fact that I was surrounded by much too much Y chromosome than I was used to, and no other girls were here to balance it out.

Fang reached up into the air and caught his pancake from Iggy.

"Dear Lord," I groaned.

"You called?" Fang asked, pretending to pick up a phone.

That did it. I stared at him for a second, his fingers curled in the shape of a Y, held at his ear.

Then I busted a casket.

I rolled over laughing on the floor. Fang scooted out if the way fast, hand still raised to his head, his eyes wide.

"All right, there, Max?" Iggy asked from the griddle. I just laughed harder. My eyes were starting to get wet.

"Okay, now, it wasn't _that_ funny," Fang said, in a tone of disbelief.

"I…_really_…have…to….pee," I choked out between bursts of laughter. That just made me laugh harder.

"Need a chaperone?" Iggy asked eagerly.

"No," I gasped. "No…you _pervert_!"

Iggy cackled. I rolled over, gasping and clutching my stomach, which suddenly rebelled.

I stopped laughing very fast, my eyes widening. I stood, holding my stomach, and booked it out of there, running to some scraggly bushes in the rock and upchucking my breakfast into them.

A cool, hard hand grabbed my hair and held it above me, while its partner wrapped around my stomach. I shivered and puked again, but the hands held firm.

"…Fang...?" I whispered.

"Ssh, it's okay," he murmured. "Are you done?"

"…I think so…"

Fang let down my hair and turned me around to face him. His brows were creased with worry, and his eyes roamed lovingly around my face. I shivered again.

"What happened?" he murmured.

"I…" I broke down sobbing for no reason at all. Fang looked shocked for a second, then folded me into his arms and stroked my hair, shushing me.

"I'm sorry," I choked. "I'm s-s-sorry."

"It's okay, it's okay," he reassured me. I shivered _again_, pressing my hands against his rock-hard chest. I wiped my mouth on my shoulder. Fang bent his head down, but-

"Don't kiss me," I mumbled. "I just puked."

"Oh." Fang stopped, then kept going and rested his head on top of mine. "I wouldn't mind," he said after a moment.

"I would."

"In that case," Fang said, and he squeezed me tighter.

I just stood for a moment, letting him hold me.

"You ready to go back now?" he asked, and I sighed. I'd rather just stay here forever, wrapped in his arms, feeling safe and warm and content.

But I had my duties.

"Yes," I sighed, and pulled him back into the cave.

**So. I have to go practice my violin and maybe I'll think about practicing my play. Our play is on Wednesday, and our teacher gave us approximately 3 weeks from getting out scripts to the performance. She has a **_**terrible**_** habit of doing that. And I can say this here because she will never, ever, EVER look at this. *coughs* Ms. Osell, that's your cue to leave. By the way.**

**Review, please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. *sniffs* **

**Byee!**


	4. Hotlanta

**A/N: Sorry! Go read the Fangel Experiment by me, and Diary of a Lovesick Mutant by Phoenix Fanatic. *giggles* And now, go put on a loud dance song like Yeah 3x and have a dance party. Or listen to Unbreakable by Fireflight and tell me how amazingly Max it is. Like seriously, it was WRITTEN for Maximum Ride.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own MR, **

"So," Iggy said, "discuss."

He was sitting cross legged on the floor. Even though breakfast had been a whole hour ago, the cave still reeked of bacon, and it made me nauseous. But Fang's cool arms around me made me feel a bit better.

"Discuss what?" he mumblegrumbled. His chest vibrated against my back.

"Discuss Nudge, Gazzy and Angel," Iggy said. His finger traced designs in the dirt. "Where they could have gone."

We were silent. Dylan started.

"What do you mean" he asked. "I thought you say that they were AWOL."

"That means away without leave, _stupid_," Fang said. "As in, they're missing."

Dylan rocked back onto his heels. "Well, maybe they're at the…School whatchamacallit thingamabob."

I frowned. "No, I don't think they are. I mean, they could be, but…the School isn't advanced enough yet to just make people disappear like that, into thin air."

"You sure?" Fang asked. "I mean, remember the brain-on-a-stick."

"Yes," I said. "They're not at the School."

Iggy spoke up. "Hey, Dylan, maybe they're at the lab you were created at. Just looking at you is proof that they're advanced enough to do that sort of thing. They made you when you were, what, fourteen?"

"They made me when my original was fourteen, yes," said Dylan. "But I'm not him. He's dead."

"Then," Iggy said, "they're even more advanced than we thought. They made a flying human from a dead body. Think about that for a moment." He paused for about a second to let us think about it. Then he said, "So what do you think? Could they be there?" At the last sentence, his eyes turned to me.

I stared at them with my mouth open. O_f course. _That was the only possible solution. Unless, of course, they were in New York at the Institute for Higher Living. For the millionth time, the winged girl we'd rescued crossed my subconscious: I hadn't entirely bought the story Fang had fed me about her just up and leaving. But the Institute was even less evolved than the School; if the kids were anywhere, it'd be Dylan's lab.

"You're right," I told Iggy. He looked a bit startled."It's Dylan's lab. Of course." I looked at Dylan. "Where did you say it was again?"

"Well…" He fidgeted. "It _was_ in Ontario. But for the just eight months that I was there, they changed locations at least six times. By now they'll be long gone."

I was aghast. "But how do they pack up and move that quickly?" Then I reconsidered as he opened his mouth. "Actually, forget it," I said. "But do you have any ideas of where they might be?"

"No," he said. "I just know that they won't be in Detroit, Ontario, Phoenix, New York City, Mexico City, or Sacramento. They never go to the same place twice. And they'll never leave North America."

"So…" I thought. "There's about six bajillion other places they could be." I shook my head. "This is impossible. We haven't even started yet and it's already impossible."

"Not impossible," Iggy argued, then added, "Anything's possible if you only try" in a sing-song voice. Then his face hardened. "Don't give up already, Max," he said quietly. "Where's that fight-or-fight girl I know?"

"You mean fight-or-flight?" Fang said. "Literally?"

"No. I mean fight-or-fight."

"Can we drop this, guys?" I asked. I dropped my head into my hands and sighed. "We need to think about somewhere where they might be. Dylan, any ideas? Thoughts?"

"Well," he said slowly, "there was something about Chattanooga."

"Oh," I said sarcastically, "and while we're there we can go see Ruby Falls."

"No, I'm serious," Dylan insisted. "Although by now they'll probably have moved on. Somewhere maybe like. . . Atlanta, for example."

"Atlanta?"

I stood up so fast that I knocked Fang over into the dust. He stared up at me, his eyes wide. "Max?" he asked, shocked.

"Atlanta!" I yelled again. What were the chances? Atlanta was one major city that the Flock had never been to – one that, if the younger kids escaped, they'd be totally lost just flying over it. I mean, all I knew about there was the Golden Dome and the World of Coke, and I was supposedly the leader.

I sat down again abruptly. Good Lord.

"Max?" Iggy asked gently.

Suddenly Fang froze. He got it.

"Holy…" he murmured, flopping onto his wingéd back. "No."

"What?" Iggy asked, and two seconds later was joined by Dylan.

I stood groggily. "Get up," I ordered. "Pack up. We're headed to the land of Hotlanta.

**Here she be. I live in the ATL so I know it pretty well. *smirks*. That's where I'm cooler then the Flock. Or hotter, whichever it may be… **


	5. Coffee

**A/N: Hi. Just wanna say…does anyone know how weird it is to be looking at random people's favorite authors/stories and come across YOURSELF? Just sayin.**

**Ps. I love sPoons! And yes, you do have to capitalize the P!**

About a day and a half later, we were flying past the Appalachians. You know, the mountains. It was dark out, and the tars had grown steadily fainter as we emerged from the desert. If you could call it that. We'd really poured on the speed, and only stopped once that night to sleep for a bit in Missouri. Now Atlanta was visible on the horizon: the tall buildings gleaming in the moonlight, neon colors visible from here. Dylan was flying crazily; his breath came raggedly and he was panting and swerving all over the place. Now he flew up to me, looking haggard. "Max? I'm hungry. Can we stop soon?"

I pushed aside the desire to tell him that he sounded like Nudge and realized that I had to agree with him. My stomach felt as though it was filled with rocks, it was so empty and heavy. I felt like I could eat a horse – utensils optional.

"Sure," I said easily, veering a bit away from him, because he looked like he was going to crash into me. "Next stop. If you see something, Dylan – Dylan?"

I broke off, alarmed. Dylan had disappeared from my side. I looked down to see him plunging through the air, his body limp. Without a second's thought I plunged down after him, swooping down and catching him from the sky.

He was fast asleep. I thought only Nudge could fall asleep while flying.

I looked up to see Fang and Iggy looking down at me. Fang's eyes were wide, and Iggy's brows were knit in confusion. "Max?" Fang called down, his voice very faint.

"Come down," I shouted, but Dylan didn't wake up. He was _heavy._ I dropped a few feet, my wings straining painfully. Fang saw this and sped downwards, Iggy following more cautiously.

"Help me," I grunted. Fang put his arms under Dylan's back, carefully synchronizing his wings with mine, and then pulled away. Dylan hung limp in his arms, his chocolate colored wings dangling down like dying flowers. (Ooh, metaphor! Ooh, I totally called it!)

"Come on," he said, and then dove to the ground.

We landed in a tiny park across in the middle of an intersection. The street was quiet, but it looked like a busy road in the daytime. There was a post office down the street, a church right next to it, a couple of restaurants and a coffee shop called Dancing Goats. Dancing Goats was the only thing that looked open; everything else was closed and quiet.

We laid Dylan down on a park bench. There was a tiny little path around the park, surrounded by trees. I tucked his wings in and flapped to the top of one of the trees, closely followed by Fang and Iggy. Iggy had a bewildered sort of expression on his face, like it was all happening too fast for him.

I settled down in a fork. "Maybe we should just stop for the night," I said. "I mean, it's almost tomorrow, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah," Iggy agreed, lying back. "I agree."

Fang said nothing.

"I'll take first watch," I offered, and was met with silence. Iggy's head had tipped backward, and his mouth was open. A small strand of spit connected his top and bottom teeth.

"Out like a light," I murmured. Fang, as usual, said nothing again.

"Wanna get a coffee?" I asked him, nodding toward Dancing Goat. He nodded and jumped lightly to the ground. I marveled at his ability to jump, like, twenty feet without breaking anything and fluttered after him.

We pushed open the gate to the park and walked down the sidewalk into the doorway of the coffee shop. I pulled my wings in tightly, untied the hoodie from around my waist, and pulled it on. Fang slipped his hand into mine, and I squeezed and opened the door.

Coffee smells wafted from inside the door. Only three other customers were in there: three middle school girls. They were all curled up on the couch, reading and sipping from mugs. They all glanced up as we walked in, but returned to their books. I wondered what middle schoolers were doing out at midnight, but then discarded the thought.

I walked up to the counter and ordered a coffee, while Fang ordered a "Duck's Cosmic Kitchen" doughnut. We paid and Fang told me he'd get the stuff, if I found us a seat. So I wandered over to the couches and sat down across from the three girls.

One girl was wrapped up in a huge gray sweater. A tendril of blond hair, so smooth it looked like silk, escaped from under her overlarge hood. Her shoes were lying on the floor, and her legs were folded neatly under her. She picked up a stainless steel mug with perfectly manicured fingernails and sipped at it delicately. Her book was called _Pretty Little Liars._

To her left was another girl. She had on a green zip-up hoodie, which said "Cute Girls Recycle" on the front. It was covered with messy signatures, drawings, and other acts of vandalism. Her hair was dark, and slightly greasy, pulled into a ponytail at the nape of her neck. She chewed on a fingernail, showing plain metal braces. Her feet were slipped into old Converse, mis-matched knee socks pushed down around her ankles. She leaned forward over her thick novel, looked excited. It was called _The Lost Symbol_.

There was one other one. She was wearing a smooth blue jacket that said something in curly writing on the front breast, and didn't have a hood. Her hair was brown, and pulled into a high ponytail, wisps escaping around her face. She was wearing jean cutoffs and Converse. Her fingernails also looked bitten, but they were covered with a layer of uneven red paint. A small pendant dangled around her neck, and two stones were embedded in each of her ears. And she was looking right at me. A spay of freckles splashed across her nose, and her hazel eyes were filled with shock.

It was then that my eyes dropped to the cover of her book.

It said _The Angel Experiment._

**Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! In case you didn't guess, the three girls are my friend Lara (the blond), my friend Marilyn (the cute girl who recycles) and me, the one reading her book. I have no idea why we'd be at Dancing Goats at midnight, but we are there. And the park really does exist. So does the coffee shop. In fact, they've landed right in my hometown. This is what happens when you get to be the author.**


	6. Is Full Of Bad Stuff

**A/N: Here we go, my friends.**

Oh, Shat.

I stood fast. The girl's eyes flared with recognition. Fang wandered over and her eyes settled on him as well. Her mouth fell open with an "O" of surprise.

"Bye," I told her. Her friends looked up. I dragged Fang out the door, him clutching our purchases. We sprinted the few feet that it took to get to the park.

"What?" Fang asked once we'd got there.

"That girl," I hissed. "She recognized us!"

Fang crossed his arms. "I told you that writing those books would be a bad idea," he told me.

"Oh, so now you're –" Abruptly, I broke off. "Where are the boys?"

"Oh, so what am I, chopped liver?" Fang said. But he did a quick scan, then another slower one.

"Crap," he said. "Inconceivable."

I glanced over at the coffee shop. The door was opening, and the girls were coming out. The one girl glanced around and then locked her gaze on us. She looked almost like she was about to cry as she turned around, her lips pressed tightly closed.

"I don't believe it." It came out as a whisper. "She's not going to tell."

Fang wasn't listening. He was gone from my side, looking up in the trees. I sat down heavily on the bench that Dylan had been occupying until about five minutes ago. I wanted to lie down and bang my head on the peeling ends. _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_ I cursed myself. _What were you thinking, Maximum? Leaving two sleeping boys alone in _Atlanta_, where the younger ones are being held captive? You are a maniac!_

I looked over at the girls. They were gone. As were the boys…AARGH

Fang sprinted back over to me. "We can't stay here," he said urgently. "We need to stay at a hotel."

I agreed, rubbing my eyes tiredly. It was probably around one in the morning. I _really_ needed some sleep. I downed the rest of my coffee, but the caffeine buzz just wasn't getting to me like it normally did.

"Sure thing," I said, spreading my wings. I sprinted along the running path for a second, letting them fill with air, and then pushed down hard, letting myself zoom upwards like I was on a jet pack. Fang followed after me, shooting straight upward. If this were a cartoon, he'd have little white lines and dust clouds in the air after him.

"Like the view?" he asked with a small grin. Shoot, he'd caught me staring.

"I was just calculating how long I'd have to look at you before I went blind," I replied tartly. Just saying the word _blind_ made me think about Iggy. We needed to get our boys back – and soon.

"Come on," I told Fang. "Let's find a furnished rock to hunker down under for the night."

**!**

We'd gotten a small room with a queen bed. Only a nightlight was on, and I was curled into Fang's side, feeling his chest rise and fall against my spine. It was a good feeling. I'd highly recommend you having a Fang.

He kissed the back of my neck sleepily. I smiled against the pillow, feeling one arm snake over my hip. Then I fell into darkness.

**!**

It turned out that the town we'd crash-landed in was actually pretty sweet and homey. Fang and I decided to walk around a bit before we started our search, on one condition: that we stop at the library first.

The library was a sagging brick building, with a sign out front announcing that it was the Decatur library. We walked in the huge front doors, greeted by a blast of cool air. In front of us were the checkout desks, self checkouts, and two rooms filled with books. But we didn't need books. We needed computers.

I took the stairs at the end of the hallway. They wound upward in a gentle spiral, and when we reached the top, we found a bunch of open computers. We signed in – I used the name Monique Griffiths – and got to work.

I opened Google, starting with _secret labs._ Of course there was a bunch of stupid stuff – video games, books, puzzles, ECT. I expected as much.

Then I tried _Atlanta, GA. _Then _Decatur, GA. _Then _old buildings in Atlanta, underground Atlanta, Atlanta factories._

Nothing.

After about twenty more searches, I was ready to scream. Fang laid a hand on my shoulder soothingly. "How about we go for a little walk," he said, "and think about more stuff to try."

I nodded wearily. A tiny pit of fear was beginning to fester in my airway, making it hard to breathe. I pushed myself away from the computer and trudged back down the stairs behind Fang.

Now we were walking in the sunlight next to a large magnolia tree. Across from us was a Dairy Queen, and on the other side was a fire station. I glanced across the street.

Then I looked harder.

Across from us was the same girl! Except this time, she was with a tall man and a girl with extremely curly hair.

The girl looked at me and looked just as surprised as I felt. She muttered something to her dad and dashed across the street toward us.

I pulled on Fang's arm. "Run," I said, beginning to sprint away. But Fang held still.

"Wait," he said. "It's not like she can hurt us. Let's hear her out."

The girl stopped in front of us. She had a shiny blue book tucked under her arm – a journal. She glanced behind her at her family. Her dad looked annoyed. Up close, I could read the cursive writing on her jacket – it said "Kate", and underneath it said, "ATL".

"Hi, Max," she said, not even pretending to not know who we were. She hesitated, then took the journal from under her arm and held it out to us.

I took it. She attempted a smile, and a tear streaked down her cheek. Then she looked down and dashed back across the street. Her dad yelled at her, and she looked at her feet. Her sister looked at us in confusion.

"Let's get out of here," Fang murmured. He took my hand and we dashed away, down the sidewalk in front of the fire station.

I looked back only once. The girl glanced over her shoulder for a second. Her eyes were shining. We locked eyes.

Then she looked back forward.

**There we go. My dad is listening to Angel on audio book – I don't know how many of you listened to it, but Dr. Hans' accent is driving me C-R-A-Z-Y.**


	7. Wet, Salty Feather

**Disclaimer: not claiming, disclaiming, not, bad, claiming, just, kidding, max, ride, nope, nuh Uh, disclaimer, Santa, what?, wait, how, did, he, get, in, here?, oh, jeez, this, is, getting, ridiculous. **

Max POV

Fang convinced me to get back to the library. I nodded soullessly, a bit shell-shocked. Fang had an air of superiority about him, which I guess was because if the dangers of the book. My book.

Anyway, we went back to the library. Except this time, Fang Googled, and I read Kate's diary. (A/N: "Googled" is now officially a word. My computer doesn't want to correct it!)

I sat down on a beanbag chair, staring at the front cover. It was blue, shiny, embossed with curling things that I think were supposed to be flowers but in reality looked more like weeds. I flipped open the magnetic flap and opened to the first page. On it was an address.

The next page said, in large letters:

-I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU'RE READING THIS. GET THE HELL OUT YOU CREEPER. WHO GOES AROUND STEALING 13 YEAR OLD GIRLS' DIARIES ANYWAY. GOD STALKER, JUST LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE.-

I smiled a bit. Then I turned to the next page.

Look, seriously, can you get out? This is my stuff. I don't want you reading it.

It went in for like seven pages. Then I got to the first entry. It said:

-Tues Nov. 11 7:23 pm-

-Dear Max-

-Every day, this happens. Every single day. Why cant I make it stop? Why?-

-Okay, let me explain to you. This morning at breakfast it was the usual. Cathy had just gotten out of the shower and mom was trying to French braid her hair. Except for it was, like, 7:50 and Cathy was still eating breakfast. Mom was yelling and Cathy was crying and I was just like get me out of here, you know?-

-I grabbed my backpack and stormed out the door, and then just stood there, looking at the sky. I had on my Αστερία jacket so I turned up the collar cos it doesn't have a hood. And I looked up at the sky and wondered again when you'd come for me.-

-I look for you in the sky every single day. My friends all love you and the flock, they think y'all are wonderful but they don't really know how obsessed I am. When I finished book 2, I checked my back for wings literally every five minutes. I ran outside and screamed at the sky because I just couldn't hold it in any longer. I think about you guys all the time. Whenever I go to school I usually have at least one of your books in my backpack for various reasons. And every day I wish that you'll come for me.-

-I have to tell myself sternly that y'all aren't real. Whitecoats aren't real, Erasers aren't real, wings aren't real. Well, they are, but not attached to humans.-

-I want so badly to meet you guys. To know you guys instead of just seeing them through your eyes. Er...not that I have problems with your eyes, Max. I just...yeah.-

-I promise that I won't rant on like this again about you. But it doesn't really matter. I'm the only one who'll be reading this. The only other person I'd let read this is you, and you're not real.-

I handed the book over to Fang. "She thinks none of it's real," I whispered.

He glanced at the date. "Yeah, she did back in November," he informed me. "But she sure as hell doesn't think that now."

"But, I mean, how does she not know about us?" I asked. "We used to be everywhere."

"We never really came to Georgia," he reminded me. "Except for that one time when we were going to Disney World. And that was when we were trying to stay hidden."

He flipped through the book, stopping about midway through. He read the entry, and he paled.

"What?" I said, trying to take the book away from him.

He held it close. "Nothing," he said. But it was obvious that it wasn't nothing.

"What?" I asked, getting my hands on it. I tugged it out of his grasp and opened it to the entry.

"She knows things about me," he whispered, looking at his hands. "I never told anyone about Holly."

"Holly?" I said sharply, looking up. "Who's that?"

"Just read it," he mumbled.

-Thursday, Feb. 10, 5:32 Pm-

-Dear Max,-

-Actually, I should be addressing this one to Fang, so Dear Fang,-

-I came up with a really good idea for my FanFiction story Typical Mutant. It's about Holly, right? I just figured out that she's your sister! I'm going to make you guys meet when you're at Anne's. But obviously Max can't know or else it would mess up the storyline. (Sorry JP, you suck. You shoulda put Holly back in. Now it's just another plothole that we authors have to work around.)-

-Anyway Fang, if you ever read this, I hope you'll read my story and find Holly to your satisfaction.-

Oh. My. God. I was shaking.

"You."

Fang was sitting with his head bowed, actually looking a bit ashamed for once.

"You have a SISTER?" I screeched. Everyone in the library went "Ssh!" all at the same time. The librarian headed toward us, so we split.

Once we were outside, Fang seemed to have composed himself. He sat on a bench and looked me dead in the eye.

"You. Have a sister." I took a deep breath.

"She's my twin, actually," he said. He seemed to be enjoying himself now. "Identical, you know."

I gaped at him. "Isn't that impossible?" I stammered.

He shrugged. "I thought so too. Apparently not."

"And you met at Anne's. Did she go to the school?"

"No." Now he looked a bit confused. "She was in the woods. Starving. It was weird, because we look exactly alike, but she has pale blond hair and light blue eyes. But our faces look exactly the same." He paused. "It's weird...I never told anyone about Holly. Not even Angel knows about her. So how did Kate find out?"

I paused.

"Yeah, that is more than a little bit creepy," I admitted after a moment. "Maybe we should read the story to see if she really did get it right."

Then I remembered that I was mad at him. "But God, Fang, why didn't you TELL me?"

"She didn't want you to know," he said. He shrugged. "And I had to respect that."

"Yeah, but it's been almost three years since Anne's," I reminded him. **(A/N: They're seventeen now.)** "Were you ever going to tell me?"

He shrugged again. "At first it seemed really important, but she made me promise not to tell you. Then, as time wore on, my promise faded a bit, but it didn't really seem important anymore. So I decided just not to tell."

I dropped my head onto my hands. "Jeez..." I mumbled. "Any more life changing secrets you'd like to share?"

He froze for a second, then grinned. "Nope."

I glared at him. "We should definitely check out that story," I said. "And if it's all true, maybe we should talk to Kate."

"Yeah…" he mumbled. "I just don't like the idea of talking to some random girl with a strange obsession for evil, mind-blowing things."

I put my hands on my hips. "The last time I helped a random girl, she turned out to be my sister," I said.

"Kate is _not_ your sister," Fang told me icily."No matter how much you might wish it were otherwise."

"I don't wish she was my sister!" I yelled. "And I _know_ she's not my sister. We saw her dad, didn't we?"

He shrugged. "Cousins, then."

I growled under my breath, grinding my teeth. "We need to stop focusing on this kid," I said, "and start focusing on our flock. They need our help, and we're the only ones who can help them. We need Dylan…" I turned and started muttering.

Fang didn't answer me. I looked at him to see him looking frozen, betrayed and white-hot with anger. "Did you just say that we need _Dylan?"_ he spat at me.

"N-no," I said. "I said we need Iggy." Downright lie. But Fang was so angry I was afraid that the top of his head would explode and leave his brains lying in a gushy mess on the sidewalk.

…Okay, I did not need that mental image.

"No, you didn't." Fang's voice cracked. I stared at him. "You need Mr. Perfect. And you need him more than you need me." He stood. "Even though you tell me over and over that all you want is me, I guess that's just it. You want me. But you need him."

"No, Fang, I –"

-am having a really hard time coming up with an argument to that one. Because thing was, he'd hit the nail right on the head. My soul ached for Dylan in a way that it had never ached for Fang.

Wait, WHAT? No. No, no, no it didn't.

"It's okay, Max," said Fang. He put a hand on my shoulder, but it wasn't lovingly. It was more like he was a businessman comforting his partner. "I understand. So we'll just get the flock now. And then you can be with your soulmate." His eyes were flat and hard, but I saw his Adam's apple go up and down as he swallowed and took his hand off my shoulder.

"Fang…" I said, and was horrified to find myself crying.

Fang looked around to make sure no one was watching, and then vanished. I stared in horror at the place he'd been, then looked around wildly.

"Fang!" I yelled at the top of my voice. An old guy looked at me curiously. I heard a rustling noise – wings.

I sat down hard on the bench. Then I heard a sharp intake of breath, and for a split second he became visible, his wings spread for flight, before he vanished again.

"Fang!" I said again, lunging at the place he'd been a second ago. My hands closed on air. I heard his footsteps running down toward the street, and then they stopped. He'd taken to the air.

Something landed on the back on my neck – a single black feather. One of his primaries – he must have yanked it out. It was long – longer than my forearm. I stroked it, my tears making glossier spots on the…feathery bits.

For the second time in my life, Fang had left me.

For the second time in my life, Fang had left me.

_For the second time in my life, Fang had left me._

And this time, I don't think he was coming back.

I put my head in my hands and cried my little mutant heart out into that huge black feather.

…**Review? **


	8. Creepiness Ensues

**A/N: Sorry it's been so long. I did warn you that it wouldn't be regular. Just FYI, Kate is not me anymore. I made some plans for her that wouldn't make any sense for me. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. This disclaimer is too boring for that. **

FPOV

As soon as I managed to get away from Max, my head cleared a bit. Okay, so maybe I had reacted a little bit rashly. But I mean, it wasn't like there wasn't any fuel to the fire. Dylan was a serious sore spot. He was a creep! How would you feel if some perfect guy showed up claiming to be your girlfriend's soul mate? Yeah. Even Max mentioning his name made me feel betrayed. I still couldn't believe all the stuff that had happened when he first showed up and we went to Paris – but I had gotten over Maya. And I _thought _that Max had gotten over Dylan. Apparently not.

My wingtips ached. I really hadn't meant to pull out that feather – it was one of my primaries, one of the ones that're not supposed to fall out, and my flying was unsteady without it. I decided to go back to the hotel.

Of course I wasn't actually planning on leaving her! I know what you're thinking. But no way. I love Max way too much to just ride off into the sunset without her! So I decided to just head back to the hotel, and be waiting for her when she got back.

I still had Kate's shiny blue diary, so when I got back to the hotel I decided to read some more of it. I walked up to our room, slid the key in the door, and opened it up. I curled up on the chair in the corner and began to read.

-December 2-

-Dear Max-

-I found a really cool site today. It's called . Basically what you do is you write a fanmade version of any published book. Like Maximum Ride, for instance.-

-I decided to put the version of Typical Mutant that I've already written on there. Or at least the first few chapters...I doubt it will be very popular. Maybe I'll put in the first bit and then change it. Make it more interesting.-

I flipped to the last entry.

-May 3-

-Dear Max-

-I saw you. I know it was you. You and Fang were at Dancing Goats, across the street from Farm Burger. I was in there with Ingrid and Ginger and we were reading and drinking coffee (or at least they were, I can't stand coffee) and you guys just walked in. I can't believe I just _happened_ to see that. I was reading _The Angel Experiment_ for The Fangel Experiment, my FanFiction, and then I just look up and see you standing there.-

-You _are_ real. I know it. You were there. And Fang was too. You both looked just like I imagined, just a little bit older. Then you dragged Fang out.-

-I was shocked. Totally unprepared. Then I saw you again when Ingrid's mom came to get us. You were in the park. Looking for something.-

-When I got home, I started crying. And then I remembered to write about it. Since this is the last page, it's fitting that it's the end of the diary. I'm going to carry this around until I see you. And then I'll give it to you. I don't know why. I just feel like I have to.-

-Schne-

I stood up abruptly, dropping the book with a thud onto the floor. I scrambled to the laptop, which was already on, and opened a new web browser. I typed in www dot fanfiction dot com, found Kate's story, and began to read.

**!**

Iggy POV

_scents and sounds and noises and no touch and no see and screaming and sleeping and pain and pain and pain and pain and moving and pain and darkness and darkness and no light and no light and no light_

Fang POV

About an hour later, I'd finished Typical Mutant. Or at least as far as she'd written it. The entire time, my heart had been pounding loudly in my ears, and when she'd gotten to the part when I first met Holly, my spine crawled and the words floated around on the screen.

This was by far the creepiest thing I'd ever done. My encounter with my only living relative shone in my brain like a beacon. I remembered clearly every single word I'd said to her, and every single word she'd said back. Now, three years later, I sat here, reading these words again from a stranger who, until _very_ recently, had believed our existence to be a myth.

I set aside the laptop and paced the floor. Kate…well, this was extremely weird. Then I grabbed the laptop again and looked at Kate's other stories, stopping at one called _Please Forgive Me._ I read the summary, and my blood ran cold.

_They're split cleanly down the middle. And this time, Max, Fang and Iggy have no idea where the other kids are-in pain, suffering, or even dead. Max is paying for her fun with Fang. Then, HE shows up-but Max is already in serious trouble. FAX! REVIEW!_

Okay. No idea what Fax is, but this story sounded creepily…like what was happening to me now. I opened it and read chapter one.

Or started to. By the time I'd finished the first paragraph, which was, if you recall, one word, I felt like screaming "Aaaarrrghh" myself.

This was beyond creepy. I skipped ahead to the last chapter posted – "Wet, Salty Feather." As I was reading, I got cold chills. _This had happened that very afternoon._

How did she know this? How did she know every single thing I said to Max? Everything she said back? Every thought, movement, and feeling between the two of us?

I pressed F5. Refresh. Another chapter appeared on the bottom. I clicked on it.

I sat there and read about myself sitting here, reading about myself sitting here.

As I was reading, and thinking about myself reading, I caught up with myself on the screen. The words on the screen were exactly in line with my thoughts. I was sitting here reading this _exact_ sentence. And thinking this _exact_ sentence.

Can you picture this? Can you imagine seeing…this? No. You can't. This has never happened to anyone. No one except me.

And I'm reading that sentence _as I'm thinking it!_

I started sweating, stood up, tossed aside the computer, paced. Then I sat back down and read the rest of the chapter as you see it here. I saw the words predicting what I was going to do even before I did it.

It was at that moment that the door opened.

And that's where the chapter ended.

**O.o**


	9. Bath Time!

**A/N: Hey. It's me. I'd like to know how many of you would be interested in a sequel to **_**Please Forgive Me**_**? If anyone is, I've already typed up the first chapter, but I won't post it for a while, seeing as it gives away a lot. **

**Disclaimer: I know, I don't own T-T**

MPOV

I stood up from the bench and wiped my eyes. Gripping the feather tightly in my hand, I tried to recall the address in the front of the book. Unfortunately, I'd let Fang get away with Kate's diary. I closed my eyes, picturing her scrawl. The address appeared behind my eyelids. I nodded and went back inside the library.

Opening Google Maps when I got back to the computer, I typed in the address and then memorized the directions. I rushed outside, behind the library, and then took off into the air.

Back in the library, the screen glowed, showing exactly where to find me.

**!**

FPOV

I stood up so fast that the laptop crashed to the floor. The door swung open slowly without anyone walking in.

"Who's there?" I called. Forgetting about the laptop, I rose slowly and took a step toward the door. "Who's there?" I called again.

Soundlessly, the door was pushed forward all the way. Then a limp body flopped forward and landed on its stomach, its shaggy reddish-blond hair flying back and then covering its face.

I tensed right away. I knew this person.

"Iggy?" I whispered. I rushed to his side and rolled him over.

It was Iggy. His face was a deathly white, his pale lips parted ever so slightly. I put my hand over his mouth and nose and felt a small puff of air as he exhaled and felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders.

His hands and feet were bound and there was a large bandage wrapped around his forehead. I heaved him onto the bed and then carefully unwrapped it, but not before closing the door gently behind him. I then unbound his hands and feet before taking a good look at his head. His limbs flopped loose.

His pale orange-pink-yellow hair was stiff and dry with blood. I sighed and trudged to the bathroom, pulling out a large-brimmed bucket. As I filled it with water from the bath, I pondered the fact that Iggy had been returned, but not anyone else. And that it had to be Iggy, not me. _Iggy_ was the one who knew how to heal people, not me. The only person I'd ever healed was myself, back when Angel had first been kidnapped. And look how _that_ had turned out.

I dragged Iggy into the bathroom and rested his head in the bucket. His head flopped uselessly into the basin, and then his body weight pulled the bucket over and all the water went splashing onto the bathroom floor. I swore and picked up Iggy before he could get too wet, laying him down on the bathroom counter, and then laid down a bunch of towels to soak up all the water. Then I looked around and conceded that there was only one thing left to do.

I stripped Iggy down to his boxers. His chest was bruised and a long cut ran vertically from his belly button to right opposite his heart on the right side. I sighed and then put him in the bathtub with his head facing down, and then turned on the tap.

Kicking off my shoes and rolling up my pants, I stepped in the bathtub so that I was leaning over him and raised his head so that I could access the back of it easier. I wet my hands and then lathered them up, slipping them into Iggy's hair. Feeling carefully around, I quickly found the cut in his head. Or should I say _gash_? It was long and ferocious-looking. I washed around it, careful not to get to close.

"Oy!"

I fell, startled, onto my butt with a splash. Iggy sat up angrily, propping himself up on the edge of the bath with one arm and rubbing his soapy head with the other. He scowled at me. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Washing your hair." I left it at that.

He paused. "Where the fuck are we?"

I shrugged.

"Where the f-"

"Hey. Tone it down with the cussing." I rolled my eyes at Iggy, who plowed onwards.

"-uck is Max?"

I stiffened, and then reached toward him with my soapy hands. "C'mere," I said. "I didn't finish your bath. C'mon, babe, tilt your head back, or else you'll get soap in your eyes!"

Iggy pressed himself against the faucet. "No. No way. Fang, what made you so gay all of a sudden?"

I lunged toward him, splashing water everywhere. He gave a high-pitched, girlish scream and pressed even harder against the wall. "NOOO!" he wailed.

"It's not that bad," I told him. I got my arms around his neck and pulled. He came away from the wall and fell back into the tub. I wrestled him so that he was lying back on his stomach and then scrubbed at his hair violently.

"You look pretty ridiculous in just your underwear," I informed him. Suddenly a wave of lukewarm, soapy water hit me full in the face. I sputtered, blinking water away from my eyes.

Iggy gurgled underwater and then shoved his head up and took a huge breath. "Bastard!" he swore at me, and then grabbed my ankles. I tipped sideways and landed on the towels on the floor. They skidded sideways and I crashed into the counter in a dazed heap.

"Ha ha!" Iggy yelled, standing in his full almost-naked glory. His head still dripped with soap. "I got you now!

Someone knocked on the door. Iggy froze, water dripping from his underwear. The door to the bathroom opened, and Max's head poked through. Her gaze landed on Iggy first and then on me.

"FANG!" she yelled, and threw herself onto me. My head crashed back into the counter again and starbursts burst in my vision. "You came back!"

"I never said I was actually leaving, did I?" I croaked. "Now can you please get off me? Say hello to the poor neked fool standing in your bathtub. He's alive, ain't he?"

Max climbed off me slowly. _What is her _problem_?_ I wondered. _Why is she _acting_ like this?_

She faced Iggy. "So what are _you_ doing here?"

As soon as Max turned, Iggy's eyes narrowed. He stared into space, his gaze landing on Max's midsection. The he blinked and shook his head.

"Fang…" Iggy said, his eyes landing on me. "I can see."

I blinked a few times. "Excuse me?"

"Are you serious?" Max asked, eyes wide.

Iggy cracked up. "No!" he gasped. "You guys are so retarded. You fell for that one hook, line, and sinker! What a hoot!"

I steamed. Max slapped him across the face, and he doubled over in the bathtub, his hand on his cheek. "Ow!" he yelled.

"Jerk," Max said, right before Iggy grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the bathtub. She landed with a huge splash, shrieking. She sat, stunned, her eyes closed, for about ten seconds. The she opened her eyes, effectively looking right up Iggy's boxers. She closed them again just as fast ad rubbed her eyes furiously. "I'm _scarred_ for _life!"_

I stood and walked over to her. "Here." I stuck out my hand, and she groped for it with her eyes closed. Once she grabbed hold, I pulled her up and into my arms.

"You okay?" I asked her.

"Mm," she said, kissing me. Iggy crossed his arms and I pulled away from Max. "Later," I murmured, too quiet for him to hear.

"I'm going to hold you to that."

Iggy stomped his foot, slopping water everywhere. "Somebody get me a towel!" he yelled.

**Sorry for the filler. I needed some personal comic relief. Sayonara. Review please!**


	10. The Cat Claws It's Way Out Of The Bag

**A/N: So I'm on vacation right now. I have computer access….but no Internet. So I'm typing updates for each of my chapters and then I'll post them the second I get back.**

**Reviews for a sequel to **_**Please Forgive Me **_**were unanimous. Everyone sounded interested. It also ties in with **_**Typical Mutant**_**, so when I get around to posting it, you might want to check that one out as well.**

**Disclaimer: I think that JP has one of those phones that can get Wi-Fi anywhere he wants. Although if he did, he'd probably use it for something besides FanFiction, seeing as that guy publishes another book, what, every other day? When does he have **_**time**_** to do this? Does he not have a life AT ALL? He lives in Florida, right? So doesn't he ever, like, go to the beach? Grandkids? A wife? Does he have time to eat dinner?**

**Anyway, enough on that. On with the chapter.**

FPOV

Ten minutes later, I had a towel wrapped around my waist while Iggy was going bravado in his jeans. Our wet clothes were hanging over the heater, and for now, I had to deal with the fact that if Erasers attacked, I'd have to fight naked, seeing as I could barely walk in this thing. Iggy kept complaining about chafing which I tried to tune out without success.

Max turned on the TV, and I thought of Total. He was staying with Dr. Martinez, Akila and Magnolia. But I remembered how he used to yell at the TV and annoy the crap out of everyone.

I hit the Mute button.

"How's your mom?" Iggy asked Max. Her eyes hardened.

"I don't know."

"Did y'all have a disagreement?" Iggy asked curiously. He was folded onto the chair in the corner, wincing against the high-pitched _eeeee_ coming from the TV.

We both stared at him.

"Did you just say _y'all?" _Max asked incredulously.

"No…" said Iggy nervously. He shrank back in the chair, his wings squishing against his back as they dried. I sighed and flopped back on the bed, tuning them out. My wings were soft and shiny, and I folded them under me and closed my eyes.

Max had sure been acting strange lately. Ever since the Flock had disappeared, she'd acted all… emotional and hormone-ey. I recalled when she'd walked in on Iggy and I earlier…she had never been that needy before. I don't think she had _ever_ tackled me like that before. After Paris, and seeing her, and fighting, and all that…it just….it didn't sit right with me. Ratchet took over the gang, and Maya and I took off.

We'd been an item for a while, Maya and I. But…eventually, she just came out and said it. We didn't fit together. And even though she never really said it, there were some things that we both knew like the sky was blue and above our heads. I was still in love with Max. And she was in love with Dylan.

Why did that idiot keep coming in and ruining my relationships? It was SO IRRITATING! As soon as we made sure that he was alive and healthy, I would beat him up and then send him to Maya. I would KILL him and then MAIL him to Maya. In bottles….

….

...

….

"…Fang?"

I opened my eyes and rolled them over to see Max and Iggy staring at me. "Were you asleep?"

"N-no." I sat up quickly, pulling my towel tighter around my waist. Max's eyes followed the movement before shooting back up to my face. I looked at Iggy, and she nodded. Damn his good ears…

"You're lying." Iggy glared at my chin. I reached over and flicked his smooth forehead, and he sat back, rubbing the spot.

"Okay, fine. I was lying. I was asleep." I glared at Max, blaming my recent, well, fractured night's sleeps on her. She grinned, unabashed.

"Let's do something." Iggy rested his chin in his hands.

"Kate or Flock?" I proposed. "Or can we wait for my clothes to dry?"

"Who's Kate?"

Max sighed and filled Iggy in. "She's a girl who saw us and recognized us and gave us her journal. Did you check out that story, Fang?"

"Yeah." I lowered my voice a little. "It was unbelievably creepy. She has a story about…this." I gestured to the room. "About what's happening right now."

"Are you serious?"

"It starts from when we woke up that last morning at the house, remember? When I scared you in your bed? She doesn't have anything before that, though. But, you know, that's really where it started."

Iggy fidgeted. "What are y'all talking about?"

"You said it _again!"_ Max yelled.

"She has these…online stories," I explained. I hitched the towel tighter around my waist. "About…us. About things that actually happened."

"Creepy." Iggy sat back. "Definitely creepy." He glanced at Max. "So does she know about how you guys lost your big V's to each other?"

"What are you _talking_ about?" Max said, looking at the ground and tucking a piece of hair behind one ear bashfully.

Iggy snorted. "C'mon. I'm not stupid. I know what happened. I got a sense for when stuff like that happens."

"Let's not worry about that right now," I said. "We need to find this Kate person. Since she knows so much about us, maybe she knows where the flock is."

"Good idea," Max said, glad that the subject had switched. "I know where she lives. I GoogleMapped it right before I got here."

"Stalker," Iggy muttered. Max glared.

"Let's go," I said anxiously.

"Did you forget something?" Max said pointedly, glancing at my clothes, which were still on the heater.

"Shit. Okay, Max, you read the story out loud, while I wait, so Iggy can hear it."

Max picked up the discarded laptop on the floor, flipping it open. She clicked a few times, and then cleared her throat, glancing over the first few lines. She cleared her throat again. And again. Her eyes widened.

"We're waiting," Iggy informed her.

"I'm sorry," Max said, looking up. "I can't read this out loud. That would be like telling you guys my personal private thoughts. I can't do that! That would be beyond awkward!"

"So what do we do?" Iggy muttered. _"I_ want to know what it says!"

We were silent for a moment. Then Iggy got a wicked smile on his face that automatically wanted to make me crawl under the bed and curl up into the fetal position with my arms over my head.

"I got an idea," he said. He came over and sat on the bed, leaning against the headboard. Max swiveled around in the swivel chair to face him, and I twisted my body to look. "Let's all go around. Fang will start. We'll each tell exactly what we're thinking at that moment, to help Max. Including me." He grinned. I looked at him, horrified.

"No way," I said emphatically. "No _way_. That goes against my code of manhood. That goes against _the_ code of Fang hood. Sorry bro. No."

"Okay, so I'll keep your Fang cards until it's over," Iggy said impatiently. "How about I go first instead?"

Max let out a long breath through her mouth, pinching the bridge of her nose and closing her eyes. "Fine," she said. "If you really think it'll help."

"Wait - you're agreeing to this?" I hissed. "NO WAY! Do you want me to say it backwards? You want me to say it in Spanish? How about Japanese? Italics? Bold? Underlined? Get it through your skull. NO."

"Yes, Fang," Max insisted. "For me?"

I gulped. Max would never have given into this before the flock left. _What had happened to my Max? And who was this new one?_

"Great," Iggy said. "So right now I'm thinking that I really want to hear a good story, but Max is being a wuss, and so I'm also thinking that I'm a genius for coming up with this idea, but Fang is being a wuss, and I'm also thinking that I'm seriously hungry, and wondering why I'm so hungry, and wondering when the last time I ate was, and wondering where I was before this, and why I have this gash on my head, and why I have this huge cut on my chest, and where the others are, and why Max is being so weird, and why I sound so much like Nudge right now."

I stared at him.

"You want me to do _that_?" I gasped.

"I'm being weird?" Max sounded confused.

"Okay," I said, before Iggy could answer. "I guess I'll do it."

Iggy beamed, and Max leaned forward a little bit, eager.

"Okay. Right now I'm thinking that this is seriously retarded. I feel like I'm doing everything that I try _not_ to do every day. I hate every second of it, but for some reason I can't stop. I think I've been wanting to do this for a while now. I'm pissed because I hate this towel and my head hurts after it cracked the counter twice. I'm mad at Iggy because he attacked me when I was just trying to give him a bath. I'm wondering what's up with Max. She's acting so emotional all the time. I keep wondering if it's me or the flock or something else. I'm also really, really worried about the flock, and majorly creeped out by Kate's latest chapter, in which I saw the exact words that I was thinking up on the screen. I'm wondering about how she knows that stuff. I'm hoping she can help us. And that's all."

My words were met with a stunned silence.

"Let's move on," I said quickly.

Max opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. "Okay. Me…So first, I'm wondering why both boys think I'm acting so weird. I'm kind of freaked out, just by the first few chapters of that story what-cha-call-it thing. I want to know right now where Gaz and Nudge and Angel are, and I want to hold them and smell them and know that they're all right. And… Ireallyreally_really_wanttojumpFang'sbonesrightnow."

Yeah, I'd been thinking that same thing about Max, honestly. But I didn't go so far as to actually say it. Jesus Christ. _That's _what I was talking about when I said she was acting hormonal…

Iggy cracked up. Max's collar turned redder than a tomato.

"Sorry," she said, and hid behind the laptop.

I didn't say anything. Instead, I sat up. "So now can you read it?" I asked her.

Her forehead over the laptop screen was bright red. "Uh, sure."

I lay back on the bed as she opened her mouth and began reading. Slowly she sat up. Her eyes widened as she read on, forming the scenes that I still remembered clear as day. When she got to the part about the seams, her eyes filled with tears. By the end of the chapter, tears were rolling down her face.

Iggy was sitting in shock. "That is beyond creepy."

"So you _were_ talking to that bush," I murmured.

Iggy stood, stretched and picked up his underwear. "I think our clothes are dry now," he said, walking towards the bathroom. "So I'll just put this stuff on and…yeah."

He slipped inside and closed the door. Now that I was alone with Max, I felt myself turning red as well. Max set aside the laptop and looked me straight in the eyes.

"I'm sorry about that," she said. "But that towel…it's so…."

"Sexy," I filled in for her.

She nodded and tackled me. Her lips were on mine before I could react, her smooth, warm hands on my bare back. I widened my eyes and gently pushed her off.

"Anything we do is liable to become published on the Internet," I reminded her.

"I don't care," she said, kissing me again. I laid back and let her for a few moments, kissing her back. But when her hands slipped to the edge of the towel, I pulled them back.

"Iggy," I whispered.

"He's blind," Max said, now kissing my neck.

"But he's not deaf." I pushed her off again as Iggy opened the door and sniffed.

"Smells hot." He turned his sightless gaze toward the bed, hesitant. "Am I about to regret walking out of the bathroom?"

"No," I told him. "Let me put on some clothes and then we'll get this show on the road."

**I AM JUST A LINEBREAKER. DON'T MIND ME. I AM JUST HERE DAYDREAMING ABOUT JORDAN WITZIGREUTER, MY FUTURE HUSBAND. DETAILS IF YOU REVIEW!**

MPOV

"Are you sure she's home?" Iggy whispered again.

"I'm sure. Her car is in the driveway."

"But she could have taken a walk."

I had to dig deep for my last shred of patience. "Iggy, she's _home_," I said, my finger hovering over the doorbell. "So can I ring it or not?"

Fang sighed, rubbing his neck. "Just do it."

Iggy glared at me. "Yes, you may, Ms. Horny."

I glared back (a waste of effort) and pressed the button. No one answered.

"I told you," Iggy muttered.

"Ig, it's been two seconds. Give her a-"

I stopped as the door was wrenched open by a boy, about nine. He stared up at us. "What do you want?" he asked. He sounded so painfully like the Gasman that I nearly broke into tears.

"Who is it, Micah?" a female voice called from inside the house.

"Um…" he called back. "Just a sec," he said to us, and sprinted back into the house. A moment later, a tired looking woman with short black hair and a Mediterranean-looking appearance followed him back to the door.

"Hello," she said, as Micah scampered back inside the house. "Can I help you?"

"Is Kate home?" I asked her.

"Um…yes, I'll get her for you." The woman cast an uncertain glance at us and then turned back into the house. A moment later, Kate rounded the corner. She stopped short when she saw us.

"Shit," she said. She hurried outside, calling, "I'll be right back, Mom! Give me two seconds!" and pulled the door closed behind her.

"Okay. What the hell are you guys doing here?"

"Um…we're…finding you," I said awkwardly. "We need to talk to you."

"Yes…um…" she said, blushing. It was obvious that she'd prepared herself for this conversation, but was now losing her resolve. "Well, we're eating dinner, so can you come over later?"

"Um…sure. What time?" Iggy asked her.

"How about one? My room will have a light on in it…it's around back. Sorry, I know the house is so small."

"It's fine," Fang said. She jumped at his voice.

"Ok. See you," she said, turning to go back inside. "Oh, yeah –" she said, pausing with her hand on the doorknob. "I go by Paisley."

Then she was gone.

**Ok. Nice and long chapter for ya. 7 pages in a word doc. So be happy. **

**So I was wondering. SO many people, like, respond to reviews?...and I was wondering that, if I responded, would it encourage you to review?...and I was wondering if anyone would want that?**

**Oh, YEAH! I wanted to put this at the bottom so no one would forget by the end. Is anyone interested in Beta-ing for PFM? I really need one. Plus, a beta would also volunteer (hopefully) to beta for Forgiven, the sequel, and would thusly get a sneak peek at the first chapter. It's a win-win for both of us. If you don't know how this would get started, never fear – I am quite experienced with the Beta scene, seeing as I have two different ones already. coughs And they are very dear to my heart. I have an empty space waiting for you in there…just waiting to be filled…**

**R&R&BETA!**


	11. Mom Always Said Don't Paint the Walls

**A/N: SOO! I AM STILL IN NEED OF A BETA! AND KIND OF DESPERATE, TOO! SO PLEASE, SOMEONE WITH EXPERIENCE, VOLUNTEER! I'm going to put another reminder at the bottom, if I remember to. But please, please, please…someone…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Max, Fang, Iggy, and a bunch of other people. Nor do I own Hot Chelle Rae, no matter HOW much I wish I did. *dances* **

Max PoV

At midnight, we left for Kate's - Paisley's - house. Iggy was sporting a new bandage around his head, but he wasn't complaining. I guess he reckoned it made him look badass. And whenever I looked at Fang, he was staring at me. Probably wondering what my issue was.

Well, him and me both. I was living inside a Hot Chelle Rae song. "Never have I ever felt like this before/I've never been the one to knock but now I'm at your door/Listen very closely and you'll hear the sound/Of a love that makes my heart beat and my head spin round." True to it's claim, I'd never felt like this before, in my entire life. It was like Fang had caught me on a fishing pole and he was reeling me in. On iron wire, so that no matter how hard I tried to get away, no matter how hard I tried to break it, I couldn't. And trust me, I was fighting. Dragging my heels, twisting, shoving, spitting at the feeling. Because it scared me. I had no control, and it scared me.

Anyway, we left the hotel. Since Iggy was back, and he was a sniveling little weasel, he got the bed, and me and Fang took the floor. At least the floor didn't creak...kidding. Actually, Fang said he wasn't tired, so he volunteered to stay up until midnight. I crashed at ten, and Iggy sometime after. But it seemed like two seconds instead of two hours later that Fang's hand was shaking me awake.

Instantly my senses were wide awake. Every cell in my body zoomed to where Fang's hand was shaking me. My body got tingly, and my stomach hurt. I must have looked really horny, 'cause Fang took one look at my face and took his hand off fast.

WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME? my mind screamed. WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?

Iggy was sitting up in bed, yawning. He stretched and adjusted the bandage on his head, rubbing his chest, where there was a line of Band-Aids under his shirt. "It's not midnight already," he groaned.

"You betcha." Fang shoved his watch into Iggy's face. Iggy jerked his head back. I rubbed my eyes and clambered out of bed, claiming the bathroom before either of the boys could.

Flushing the toilet, I turned to the mirror. My reflection was ghastly. Lately my stomach turned at the littlest thing, and it was showing on my face. My eyes were purple, my cheeks pale. I looked like I was sick.

I sighed and grabbed a brush, yanking my hair back into a ponytail. A tiny curl popped out from behind my ear.

What the -?

Then another curl sprang loose. My hair was not curly! What the hell was going on?

Oh well. Who cared. I yanked the curls back and barged out of the bathroom, closing the door before Fang or Iggy could slip in. Iggy stared at me.

"Jesus, Max. You look like shit."

"You're blind," I told him. "I'm not falling for that again. I don't get my tail caught in the mousetrap twice."

"I told you," Fang said to Iggy, who scowled.

"But you hit it right on the target," I told him. "I do look like shit. When we get to K-Paisley's, I'm gonna ask her why. She'll probably know, right?"

Iggy exchanged a glance with Fang's left jaw. "I'm not counting on the paranormal," he informed me.

Paranormal. What a good word to describe this whole thing. But wait! Iggy just said a - wait, hang on. Par-a-nor-mal. Okay - four syllable word. That has to be a record.

"Whatever," I groaned. "Let's go."

We opened the window and flew out. I took the lead with Fang and Iggy flanking me. At least, even with me feeling this sick and weird, I was still the leader. And no one was taking that from me. Which was why we were going to Paisley's, who would know where the younger three were. Probably. Hopefully.

We soared over the small town. It was about five minutes to her house, but it passed in the blink of an eye. We landed on her back porch and knocked on the window with the lights on.

After a few seconds, the curtain was pulled aside. Paisley looked out and then opened the window, beckoning us in. I crawled through the gap, followed by Fang and Iggy. Then I looked around.

The walls were dark brown wood with a wavy texture cut into them. At least, the walls that I could see were. Almost the entire room was covered with drawings. They pictured just about everything, from sketches of hands to Converse sneakers, book covers to Anime. Actually, there was a lot of Anime. There were also a lot of sketches of me.

It was kind of creepy, seeing my face staring down at me from all four corners of the room. There were also sketches of the rest of the flock. They were extremely realistic, even though I didn't think I'd released pictures of Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel to the public.

The ceiling was painted lavender, and she had maroon curtains with these...weird...hands on them. Instead of just hands, they were a bunch of white criss-crossing lines in the shape of hands. The bedspread was dark purple, and the lamp in the corner gave it a very cozy glow. There were two closets that were closed and had sheets hanging over them so that I couldn't see the wood, and sheets covered both of the door to out of the room.

Paisley looked around, realizing that she still had all those sketches on the wall. She blushed furiously. "Oh, man, I meant to get those..."

"It's fine," I said.

"What?" Iggy asked.

"Nothing," she said. "Sit down, guys."

"What's this?" Fang asked, and he pulled the sheet off of the door.

At first, I thought it was a poster or a photograph. A cutout. Then I realized it was a painting - of me. On her door. I was standing with my hands on my hips, my hair blowing back. It was life-sized.

"What the..." Fang said, staring at it with the sheet in his limp hands. I slid off the bed and walled over to it slowly. Iggy followed me with his hands outstretched, running his fingers over the picture, lingering on the face.

"This is..." I said. I spun around. Paisley was bright red in the corner. "Did you do this?"

She nodded jerkily. Her face turned an even deeper shade of red.

Fang walked over to the other door, pulling down the sheet on that one. His likeness was staring down on him, arms crossed, leaning on the doorframe. It was his classic pose, and she had captured it perfectly. Even better, in both paintings, the light source was coming from the same direction.

"Okay, can we move on?" Paisley pleaded.

Like he was sleepwalking, Fang opened the closets. On the inside doors were paintings of the Gasman and Angel, so lifelike that they made my heart hurt. The sheets slithered off the doors when he opened them, revealing Iggy and Nudge. In Iggy's hands were a tangle of colored wires. Nudge was fingering a strand of her hair. Gazzy's hands were plunged in his pockets and he was giving a huge, innocent smile. Angel had a sucker in her hand, and her eyes were looking upward.

Fang was still staring at the portrait of himself, his eyes wide. He touched his face, looking at the same place he was touching. Then his eyes slid to the left.

In the next second, he had Paisley pinned down on the bed. Gripping her collar, he brought her face close to his.

"How. Do. You. Know. About. Her?" he growled.

"Who?" Paisley squeaked.

My hormones were going crazy. Fang was touching another girl, and even though he was basically attacking her, I couldn't stand it. I dove into his side and we rolled off the bed. He hit the floor with a thump, and I landed on top of him, making the floor creak. Our faces both shot to the door, but there was no sound from any of her family members.

I climbed off of him reluctantly. "Quit it, you," I hissed. "She's thirteen. Lay off."

Fang took another look at he drawing next to his portrait, pressing his lips together. Then he got up and settled on the bed.

"Okay," I said, "sorry about that. I have a few questions for you."

Fang got mad again.

"How is this possible?" he asked. "We read your story. Jesus Christ. I was reading what I was thinking on the screen. But you know that. You described what I was thinking it as I was thinking it. So how the hell did you know?"

"What?" she asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me," Fang threatened. "I'm talking about this. What's happening now. You probably noticed that Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel aren't here right now?"

"You mean it's really - they're really - ?"

"Yeah," said Iggy. "Gone. Poof. The end. AWOL. Got it? So where are they?"

She drew back. "How the hell would I know?"

"Stop it, you two," I said. Iggy and Fang both looked at me and then drew back a little bit. "Look, honey," I said, feeling Fang's shocked gaze burning into my back. "We figured that since you basically know what's going to happen to us before we even do, maybe you would know what's happening right now. Where the others are. And what's going on, you know..."

"Yeah, I think I can manage that," she said, nodding slowly. "I just need to type the next chapter."

"What?" Fang said. "You mean you don't have that sort of thing figured out already?"

She narrowed her eyebrows at him. "No! I think of stuff on the spot! I have no idea where they are right now. I need to figure it out. I was trying to think of a building in the city that I knew pretty well so that I could type it up accurately."

My mouth hung open. "So you don't plan this? The exact events just...pop into your head?"

"Well, I didn't know they were exact," she said. "But I do know what you need me to tell you."

"Really?"

"But you don't need me to tell you that." She swiveled her head and looked at Iggy. "If you're right about my story being accurate, that means that Iggy knows what you need to. You can see it, right?"

Iggy's face went paper white. "How did you know that?" he whispered. "Is that really what I think it is?"

Paisley nodded. "Yes. It is."

"What are you guys talking about?" Fang demanded. "Tell me!"

"Someone's being a bit demanding," Paisley said angrily. "Chill, dude. I know stuff you could use as well. You want an update on Hol-"

"Don't," he hissed. "Don't say her name. I'm telling you. I'll kill you."

Paisley shrugged. I sat there, confused. She turned to me.

"Max," she said. She reached over. "By the time Iggy figures it all the way out, it might be too late. But don't pressure him, okay? It'll all get clear."

She reached over to my ponytail and, with expert precision, pulled out three tiny chunks of hair. Each one curled in a perfect corkscrew in her hand. Fang gaped at them.

"Max's hair is straight," he said stupidly.

"It'll go back to normal," she said softly. "You know what? I'm gonna write you a note. You'll know when to open it. Iggy will tell you."

She nodded and bent over her desk, writing busily for a few moments. Fang wandered around the room, looking at the stuff on her walls. There was a bulletin board in one corner covered in photos.

"Who are these guys?" he asked. "They look like psycho nuns."

Paisley glanced up. "That's my dance team," she said. "Greek dance."

She went back to writing.

"X-Treme Sports," Fang muttered.

"It is," she agreed. "Have you ever done it? No? So keep your mouth shut, mmkay?"

Fang gaped at her. "Psycho nuns!" he mouthed at me, then turned back to the board.

"Who's this?"

Paisley took a look at what he was looking at. Her expression went from shock to pain to grief to fury in about two seconds. "Mind your own business!" she snapped. She folded up the letter and stuffed it in an envelope with shaking hands.

I looked at the photo. It was her with her arms around a dark auburn-haired girl. Both of them were laughing. I took a closer look at the girl's face, and then looked around the room again.

The girl's face looked down at me from the wall even more often than my own did. Black and white sketches, charcoal, but there wasn't a single one of her in color. There was a picture of her with her hands folded over her belly, her head hanging down, but it had been scribbled over with a red marker. The picture still hung there, though.

"She's dead," Paisley said in a flat voice. She tossed the envelope at me. It said, OPEN IN EIGHT MONTHS OR IN HOWEVER LONG YOU WANT IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS WITH SPOILING THINGS FOR YOURSELF. IN FACT I KNOW WHEN YOU'LL OPEN IT, AND I CAN TELL YOU THAT YOU HAVE PROBLEMS WITH SPOILING THINGS FOR YOURSELF. SUCKERS on the front. The handwriting was in all caps, with light lines connecting each letter, where she was writing too fast to actually take her pencil off the paper.

"Here," she said.

Iggy cocked his head. "Someone's coming," he hissed.

Fang disappeared. Iggy dove into the closet. I rolled off the bed and into the crack between the bed and the wall. Flight time: 3.53 seconds.

The doorknob turned with a creak, and the door opened. Paisley's mom crept into the room.

"Who's in here?" she said.

"No one, Mama," Paisley answered, with only a slight tremor in her voice.

Her mom didn't pick up on it. "Someone was talking," she insisted. "It wasn't you. It was..."

Her face grew round with horror.

"It was a boy," she said. "You have a boy in your room. Didn't Mady teach you anything?"

"I told you not to say that name," Paisley said, her voice tight. "No one is in here, Mom. Now get the hell out of my room."

"Turn your light off. It's one o'clock in the morning. That's another thing that she did to you."

The bed creaked as Paisley stood up. "I'm going to count to three," she said dangerously. "If you're not out of my room by then, I will make you go out. You lost me when you said her name."

Paisley's mom left, turning off the light as she went. Paisley stuffed the sheet in the crack between the door and the floor and turned the lights back on.

"Sorry about that," she whispered.

"So who's Mady?" Iggy asked.

She sighed. "You better go," she said. "Can you come back tomorrow?"

"Who's Mady?" Iggy asked again.

"My dead friend. Please don't make me talk about it.

"How did she die?"

Paisley's face hardened. "I think it's time for you to go," she said, and pushed us out.

"Paisley," I called through the open window. Fang and Iggy were waiting behind me. "Paisley, I have more questions! Please!"

"See you tomorrow," she said, and slammed the window closed. The light flicked off.

"Go away. I'm asleep," she called.

"Bye," I called, and we took off.

**!**

Back at the hotel, Fang and I basically jumped Iggy.

"What was she talking about?" I demanded. "Do you know what's wrong with me?"

"I sure don't," Fang muttered. I ignored him.

"Look, Max," Iggy said. He flopped back on the bed. "I'm exhausted and really freaked out. Hopefully you'll forget about it. If you don't, I'll make up a lie. I don't think you'll be able to handle the truth until it starts dancing naked in front of you."

He chuckled to himself.

"Fine, then," I said. I pushed him off the bed before he could react. "I get the bed, if you're going to be that way."

"Only if Fang stays off the bed," he grumped. "No horny teenagers are waking ME up in the middle of the night."

He flopped onto the blankets where I had been earlier. I dove under the covers. Someone turned off the lights, and soon I heard Iggy's snore.

The sheets rustled as Fang crawled into bed next to me.

"Be PG," he whispered. "None of the recent attitude, 'kay?"

"Fine," I whispered back. "Just...don't go."

"I won't," he murmured into my neck. His arm snaked around my waist, and his forehead rested between my wings. I held onto his fingers and fell asleep.

**A/N: There she be. **

**So, perspective Betas! PM me! The first one gets a hundred thousand million virtual….good things! OK? Enthusiastic now? Huh? Yeah, you know what's up. Good boy/girl/it/thing. P.S. AM NOT ACCEPTING BETA REQUESTS FROM MARILYN! Good day.**


	12. Shroomers Shrooming

**A/N: So I would like you all to know…we have a new beta for this story! After weeks of searching, I was able to come up with someone halfway decent…everyone give a hand to MaximumRideFanAddict, without whose help this story would still be crusty and rusty and full of mistakes.**

**Disclaimer: JP needs to get a beta, that way HIS writing wouldn't be crusty and rusty and full of plot holes. Err…no offense, JP.**

That night, we went to Paisley's again.

During the day, we'd mostly hung around town. I read some of Paisley's diary out loud. It wasn't all about us; she also told us about the guy she liked, and she described some dreams she'd had about him. She told us about her family: single Greek mom, a sister a year and a half younger, a brother whose dad was out of the picture. Paisley and her sister, Cathy, had a dad who was dead, although she only mentioned it once. She never said how she died. She also made some mentions of her friend Mady, describing the things they'd done together, until Mady disappeared without a trace. Paisley hadn't seen her since. She talked about her funeral, and strange little bumps on the page where the paper had been warped by water made me think that she'd been crying hard when she wrote that entry.

"Please, Max," - she'd written,"-help me get through this. Help me be strong like you.-"

"She thinks you're a god, or something," Fang told me after an uncomfortable silence.

I didn't say anything, just traced my fingers over the teardrops on the paper.

Anyways, when we got to her house, we were met with a mumbled "Just a minute." After a moment, Paisley opened the window, and we climbed through.

The room looked different, somehow. On each door was a huge poster covering the painting. There were different band posters over each painting. As I gazed around the room I recognized the places where our paintings were and the differences-Hot Chelle Rae over me, The Ready Set over Fang, We the Kings over Iggy, and Paramore over Nudge.

"What's with this?" Fang tapped the poster over his face.

Paisley frowned. "My mom was about to figure out that the people I had paintings of on my closet doors showed up on our doorstep. So I got these and put them over." She crossed the room and ran her hand over the poster.

Something scratched at the door. Paisley sighed.

"Damn cats..." she said, and opened the door leading away from where her mom had come in the night before. Two cats - well, kittens, padded in. One was marmalade, and one was a mix of grey and marmalade and brown and white and black.

"That's Candy," she said, pointing at the marmalade one. "My sister's. And this is Sadie."

She picked up Sadie, who basically had a gray and black striped back, white belly and paws, and light brown patches over her left eye and ear, and the base of her tail and right thigh. She purred loudly. Sadie, I mean, not Paisley. Candy wandered over and sniffed Fang's shoe, and he stared bemusedly down at her.

"So," said Paisley. "Let's get down to business."

Paisley dumped Sadie into Iggy's lap, and he ran his fingers over her, trying to figure out her colors. Sadie purred. Paisley grabbed her mom's laptop off her bed and opened it, typing in some stuff and then wheeling it to face us.

"Here," she said. "I just got this back from my beta..."

I ignored my own want to know what the hell a beta was and read over the chapter. Then I got to this part.

I wish I could show you how weird this was, seeing my very own words on the screen. I blinked a few times, and then read the words telling me that I was blinking. Crept out, I pushed the laptop away, bile rising in my throat. I didn't want to read our next conversation. That would be a little too jacked up for me.

"And?" I asked, as she pulled the computer towards her. "Where are they?"

She typed in a few commands and then gave a satisfactory grunt. "Okay, posted. Um...yeah..." She sounded distracted. "Oh, right. I put Mellow Mushroom."

"What's that?"

"A pizza place." She closed the lid of the computer. "The entrance is in the bathroom."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" I asked, standing. "Let's go!" Iggy tugged me back down.

"It's closed." He sniggered at me, and I glared at him. Of course, it was totally wasted, like usual. His pale hand went back to stroking the cat.

"Then, let's break in!" I said, the idea flashing through my brain in a sudden inspirational burst of lightning.

"Are you crazy?" Fang said, looking at me like he knew exactly what the answer was. "We can't break into a pizza place!"

"And why not?" I demanded.

"It's illegal! Getting arrested isn't going to help anyone!"

I glared at him. I seemed to be doing a lot of glaring lately. Then again, if these people will stop frustrating me, then maybe I'll stop glaring.

"It's okay," Paisley said quietly.

"Huh?" All three heads looked toward her. She seemed to shrink a little bit.

"We won't get caught," she said sadly. She looked down. "As much as I'm ashamed to say it…we won't get caught."

"Why are you ashamed?" Fang asked curiously.

"I don't want to be a criminal at thirteen!" she wailed softly. I tentatively patted her shoulder.

"Well, you were the one that wrote it," Iggy said peevishly. "So you really can't complain."

Paisley sighed. "I know," she said reluctantly. "I know…I know…but when I was writing it, despite what you guys had told me, I just wanted the story to be exciting. I didn't think…" She laid her head in her hands. "I didn't realize that it would actually be real. I was hoping you guys would be wrong."

She sighed again.

"Well," she said, "we better get moving. I need to write this…" She grabbed a paper and pen off her desk, wrote for a second, and then put the paper on her pillow. "Okay. Let's boogie."

Everyone was silent for a moment. Then Fang said, "Um…Max? Pais- uh, she doesn't have wings."

"Okay," I said briskly. "You can carry her."

Paisley glanced at me. "You okay with that? Really?"

Damn, I wish she hadn't asked. I'd been trying to figure out what the heck was going on with me and why I was so weird and why I didn't want anyone without a Y chromosome touching Fang besides me. Behind Paisley's green-brown eyes was the answer. She just wouldn't give it to me. I halfway wanted to shake her and demand why and halfway wanted to sit back and see how this whole 'Please Forgive Me' thing turned out. Then, I realized something. Good Lord, who was I kidding? There would be no sitting back for me.

I met her eyes unblinkingly and lied to her face.

"Yeah," I said. "It's okay." Paisley narrowed her eyes at me.

"Fine," she said coolly. She opened the window and turned out the light. We all crawled out onto the back porch, and she shut the widow. Then she climbed onto Fang's back and we took off.

After a few seconds of flying, I realized I had no idea where we were going, I glanced over at Paisley. "Can you direct us?" I asked her.

She didn't answer. The wind was blowing her short brown hair away from her face, and for a second I thought she didn't hear me. Then, I saw the tear tracks going down her face, carving two shiny lines over her freckles.

"You okay?" I asked gently. She sniffed, wiping her face on her shoulder.

"Sorry," she said timidly. "It's just…I've dreamed about flying my whole life…and now…"

Oh right, she's human. She'd never flown outside of a heavy metal tin can in her life, an airplane for those who don't know.

"And actually," she grinned, "I went parasailing one time, on Lake Michigan. It was fun. But there was a harness and stuff."

My mouth opened. _What? Can she read minds? Is she really just a-_

Then I remembered. _Right, she wrote all this already. She already published my stupidity to the entire Internet. _I gritted my teeth, angered.

"It's not far from here," she said. "It's actually just down there." She reached over Fang's wing, pointing. I angled downward, the other two following.

Paisley's shriek as Fang tilted sharply down rang in my ears for seconds after it stopped. _But, she also published HER stupidity to the Internet…whatever stupidity she's had. _It made me feel better, and we landed in the parking lot of a lit up CVS with a happier Max.

Paisley slid off Fang's back, and Fang stretched. "It's over there," she whispered.

Iggy moved closer to Fang, putting his hand on Fang's shoulder. We set off toward the building.

"MELLOW MUSHROOM", it read across the door. There was also a Q, but I had no idea why. A bike rack stood outside, and a kind of outdoor patio, fenced in. Christmas lights were strung all over, despite the fact that it was summer. Inside the building, were dim outlines of posters for all sorts of paranormal activity/horror/thriller/alien movies. Two giant mushroom tops with faces were perched in some of the corners.

"Does this make us Shroomers?" Iggy muttered. All of us ignored him.

"Well," said Fang, picking up a rock, "are you ready?"

"Wait!" Paisley interrupted.

Everyone stopped and looked at her, Fang holding the rock, still poised to throw.

"It's just that…well…"She took a deep breath. "This is the end of the chapter. I don't know what's going to happen next."

Well, that's just great.

**R&R?**


	13. Ice Toenails

**A/N: Heyhihello! I'm finally updating! XD It's actually my fault this took so long – my Beta got this back to me in six days, so… :( It was my fault for the basically one-month period between this chapter and last chapter! Please forgive me…Ha ha, PUNNY.**

**Disclaimer: As much as I'd love to, I don't own…*sigh***

Fang, rock still in hand, burst out laughing. The raucous sound shattered the night, and he actually had to double over to control himself.

"The end of the chapter," he gasped. "Whoo…that's…funny."

Paisley glared at him.

"Hilarious," she muttered. "But hey, don't break that window. I really like this place. I don't want them to have to pay because we're idiots." She looked pointedly at Fang, and sighing, he dropped the rock. It rolled over into a gutter. She moved her gaze over to Iggy, and like he could sense it somehow, he started and reached into his pocket for his lock kit.

"Where's the lock?"

Paisley grabbed his arm and led him over to the storefront, pulling his hand down to the large, circular lock. He crouched over it and inserted the bobby pin, now a little rusty from its time in the bath. After a few minutes, he withdrew his hand and pulled open the door.

"Voila," he said, sweeping us inside with a wave of his hand. He grinned, his earring flashing in the streetlamps. I rolled my eyes and followed Paisley inside the pizzeria.

Despite the name, Mellow Mushroom did not appear to be very mellow whatsoever. There seemed to be some kind of alien/Sci-Fi theme going on. The walls were decorated with posters advertising old horror films featuring the likes of Godzilla, The Blob, Killer Ants, and The Pizzas from Space. There were also paintings of various yellow people running around looking terrified with mushroom tops for heads. The whole place was strung with Christmas lights despite the fact that it was early May. The board that the menu was painted on appeared to feature an alien driving a UFO, and inside the cloud of exhaust was the menu, all squished up and crammed-like.

Paisley led us past a few decapitated mushroom-headed busts that were almost glowing and to the bathrooms. The door of the woman's bathroom had a poster of a half-naked giant woman posing over a destroyed Spaghetti Junction. The men's had a half-naked giant man posing over another equally destroyed Spaghetti Junction. I shot an incredulous look over at Paisley, who had a little half-smile on her face.

"You _like_ this place?" I whispered incredulously.

"Yeah, the pizza's amazing." She pushed open the women's bathroom door and flicked on the light. I shielded my eyes against the sudden brightness, and when I opened them, I almost recoiled in horror.

The walls were papered in more horror-movie posters as well as old flyers advertising indie bands that had appeared at places like Eddie's Attic and the Echo Lounge and Varsity Playhouse over ten years ago. But in the center was a large, life-sized cutout of a man in a long white coat.

Paisley strode over to him purposefully. She pressed a few places on the man's face, neck, and arms, stood back, and waited.

Nothing happened.

"Okay, then – must be the other one," she said, and pushed her two fingers down squarely on the man's eyeballs.

There was a rumbling sound. The bathroom started shaking, and tiny pieces of plaster rained down from the ceiling. And alarm began to blare, a high-pitched _eeeee_ that had Iggy wincing and clutching at his ears in pain.

The sinks began to slide into the wall. I stared openmouthed at them, then looked at Fang. He was watching me, his dark eyes unreadable. I gulped and turned back to the sinks.

Where they had been, there was just a hole in the wall.

I could hear sirens in the parking lot. Grasping Fang's hand, I squared my shoulders and grinned.

"Let's blow this Popsicle stand."

**!**

FPOV

Gripping Max's hand firmly in mine, I followed Paisley down the tunnel, ducking a little to avoid hitting my head on the ceiling. The warmth from our interlacing fingers flooded me, and I tried hard not to think about her, or what had happened a few nights previously. The slight, constant tickle of Iggy's fingertips at the hem of my black T-shirt kept my thoughts out of the 'R' category, and thank God for that.

There was a rumbling behind us, and the sinks slid back into place. It was pitch black in the tunnel, and more than a little chilly, but I was able to stand up straight now, and when I reached up I couldn't feel the roof. I untangled my fingers from Max's and put my arm around her shoulders, pulling her to my side. I could feel her shivering and shaking, while I blessed poor, innocent Iggy for his distracting fingertips.

There was a sudden _click_, and the tunnel was bathed in a soft golden glow. Paisley turned, clutching a tiny black flashlight in her fist. She winked at me and turned back around. Through her shiny blue jacket, I could see that she was shaking, and her hand trembled so bad the light was trembling too. I guessed it was from fear instead of cold, seeing as she'd never done anything like this before…probably.

I shook my head and pushed those thoughts away as the tunnel began to slope gently downward. The ground was beginning to get rocky, and tiny pieces of gravel skittered away under our feet with every step. My lungs began to burn a little from inhaling the cold air. With every step, the atmosphere in the tunnel got wetter and wetter, the gravel becoming increasingly moist as well until we were nearly sloshing in freezing cold water. Toes numb, breath ragged, nerves frayed, the four of us walked on, trying to avoid the icy drips from the roof.

After what seemed like hours, the tunnel leveled out and the ground got mostly dry again. My knees ached from walking downhill for so long, but I didn't say anything. Max was panting hard, leaning on me, the shadows under her eyes more pronounced. She really _did_ look sick. A small know of fear tied itself in my chest – small now, but with the potential to get larger.

The tunnel was beginning to widen up. And then I could see light. It was white-blue, contrasting with the old yellow light coming from Paisley. She sped up a little, and, ignoring my bone-cold feet, I increased my pace to match hers. I was almost carrying Max at this point. She seemed so…tired. I stopped for a moment, stepping just in front of her, and crouched down, placing my hands at the base of my spine. She gave a low chuckle and climbed on to my back, locking her arms around my neck and resting her cheek on my shoulder. I tried to ignore the feeling of her…girl parts pressing into my wings and set off again, my arms locked to support her weight.

Paisley stopped suddenly, her flashlight illuminating a door. Bluish light seeped from under it. She put her hand on the handle and pushed down.

It was locked, of course. She sighed and swept her hair behind her ear, the contrasting lights illuminating the twin stones there. Glancing up at Iggy, she said, "We have need of your skills, Mr. Handyman."

She reached out for Iggy, taking his hand and leading him up to the door. She placed his long fingers on the lock. They looked almost bone-white in the lighting, bleached of blood. They pawed the lock, and then dug into his pocket and extracted the lock kit. He selected a lock and pushed it in the slot.

After a few moments of twisting, it became apparent that the pin wasn't working.

"I need something…_thinner_," he said, frustrated. "This is my thinnest thingamabob. Crap."

He sat down right there on the ground, ignoring the frozen concrete. I watched Iggy run his hands through his hair animatedly, squeezing his eyes shut in concentration. Pulling his nails out of his hair and letting his bangs flop sloppily over his eyes, he gave a little anguished moan.

Suddenly, it was like his shell just cracked. He pulled off his glasses and flung them across the tunnel. They shattered, the lenses cracking and scattering on the gravel. Paisley jumped back, shocked. My eyes widened, but Max didn't stir.

"I just…" Iggy's face fell into his hands. "I just…"

He sat like that for a couple of moments, his shoulders shaking silently. We let him be, let him get it all out. It was pretty awkward for a moment, and I shifted my weight back and forth. Max's arms lolled. I think she was asleep.

"Iggy," Paisley called, holding something up. It sparkled. "I think I found your new…lock picking thingy."

Iggy raised his head, blinking useless eyes. "What is it?"

Paisley approached him and placed something in his hand. His fingers curled around him, and his eyes widened. A slow smile spread across his face.

"Friends," he said solemnly, "I do believe we've hit the jackpot."

He went for the lock again and held up the object for me to see. Shifting Max's weight, I peered closer. A shard of glass from his shattered glasses glimmered between his fingers. He grinned and inserted it into the lock.

"Ha…ha…ha…" he intoned, working quickly with his fingers. "You will never beat me, you god damn door."

A few seconds later, and we were in.

The door swung open silently. It was big, really big, heavy, and thick, too. But it easily swungopen, ghosting over the ground. We stepped inside, allowing it to swing shut behind us, clicking closed.

The room we were now in was equally dismal – wet, cold, gloomy, and just plain depressing. It was about fifty square feet, pretty small. One rectangular bluish light glowed above us, a few bugs fluttering around it. The walls were stone, the floor covered with icy gravel. And the temperature was about ten degrees colder, like stepping into a meat locker. I think frost formed on my sopping shoes, and icicles formed on my toes.

A few cages lined the wall. I immediately checked each one, but there were just immobile failures shivering in each one. Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel weren't there. I squashed my disappointment, scolding myself for allowing my hopes to get up. Of course they weren't here. That would be way too easy.

That's when Max screamed.

I had thought she was asleep, so when she let loose right in my ear, I nearly jumped out of my pants. It scared me so bad. As soon as my brain allowed coherent thought, I whirled around to see what the hell had her screaming so fnicking loud.

Something stopped me. I couldn't see what it was, but there was a huge resistance attached to Max. She yelled again, but it wasn't quite so loud and/or piercing. I just jumped out of my socks that time. Paisley joined the cacophony, letting loose an ear-splitting shriek.

"Fang! Eraser at seven o'clock!" Iggy yelled, and at the moment I had no time to wonder about how he knew that.

"It's got Max!" he added.

"Shit!" I yelled, finally feeling the tugging as the Eraser attempted to rip my girlfriend from my back. My arms were so numb it was a wonder I felt it at all.

"Iggy!" I shouted.

_"GET IT!"_ My arms were occupied with supporting Max, my balance unsteady, my shoes slippery on the icy ground. There was no way to fight back.

I hated being helpless. Have I ever mentioned that?

"Okay!" said Iggy, and I heard a rustling noise. Too late, I realized.

"Iggy! NO-!"

Too late.

There was a sonic **boom**, and before I could react, my head had connected with the frozen concrete. The blackness pulled me right under, the echoes from the bomb still ringing in my ears.

**!**

NPOV

_It's strange, because you've never been blind before. It's an odd feeling. The blackness is everywhere, and you can feel your eyes widening, the pupils growing and blotting out color, attempting to find even a shred of light._

_But there's nothing. No light. Nothing._

_And then, you can see._

**R&R? Or die? :D**


	14. Five's A Charm

**A/N: I'm going on an update spree! I have 5 days off for vacation, and since I have 5 stories, I'm going to try to update each one…Just don't laugh at me when it fails…**

**Disclaimer: Do I really need to say it?**

FPOV

I woke up and the first thing I knew was that my head was fnicking killing me.

Seriously, I've never had a hangover before, but I think that this must be kind of what it felt like except worse. It made me feel like rolling on the ground in agony, but I didn't. Self-control, there, guys.

The second thing I knew was that for some reason I was lying on the ground, and it wasn't soft ground, either. It was hard, rock hard, and pokey. Like, a bunch of sharp spikes were stabbing my skull, adding to the pain. Plus, the ground was cold,_ freezing _cold, so cold that I considered the fact that it was icicles stabbing my head. Hmm…that was a theory, there.

The third thing I knew was that I was behaving like an incompetent, so I decided to open my eyes. My eyelashes seemed to be stuck together, but after straining my eye muscles considerably (did I really just think that?), I managed to open them.

I appeared to be lying on cement. In front of me, Iggy was lying sprawled out on the ground, his limbs all askew. Paisley was a few feet away from him, her body limp.

_Where was Max?_

I sat up quickly. My head did not like this at all and protested violently, sending searing pains stabbing my brain. I cried out and clutched my temple, rolling into the fetal position as the pain slowly ebbed back to how it had been.

I cracked open one eye and sat up slowly, much more slowly. Keeping one eye tightly closed, and pressing my skull as the pain increased with movement, I saw Iggy and Paisley begin to stir.

"Oww…" Iggy moaned, gripping his own forehead. I grimaced in sympathy. Paisley opened her eyes and sat up, however, without problems, even as Iggy rolled over on the ground, contracting and then retracting all his muscles in attempt to deal with the pain. I'd like to note that this is exactly what I stopped myself from doing.

"Oh, my God…" Iggy squeezed out. "Fang…was I doing anything last night you need to tell me about?"

"Whatever it was you were doing, I must have done the same thing," I moaned. "My head is killing me."

"It probably happened when you fell on the ground," Paisley said. "My head landed on my arm, so it softened the blow. You might want to check for the source of blood, Fang, because it's covering the ground where your head was."

Slowly, I looked down. She was right – there was a thin layer of stickiness covering the cement. I ran my fingers gently through my hair until I found a matted spot.

"Well, I hope it's not too bad," I said, "because I can't deal with it right now. Where is Max?"

We all looked around. Max was nowhere to be found. Worry tied itself into a knot in my chest.

"Guys." Paisley's voice sounded panicked all of a sudden. "You guys, the door is locked. From the outside."

**!**

NPOV

The light was so sudden, so searing, that it physically hurt my brain. I pressed my suddenly mobile arms to my eyes, trying to make them stop searing with the pain.

"Somebody turn off the _sun_," I moaned.

"I doubt that that would help at all, seeing as we are inside," a growly voice commented, and for a moment, some of the horrible light was blocked.

I shrieked and my eyes flew open. Looming over me was what looked like – what? What could it be? An Eraser? No, they were all terminated years ago. So what could it be? It sure looked like an Eraser. I could only see the outline, but the outline sure looked like an Eraser and it was blocking the light.

"Do not be scared, Nudge," the Eraser said. "I will not hurt you."

"I-I-What the heck's going on?" I spluttered. Water – from what? – dripped into my eyes. "Where am I? And who are you?"

"You are in an isolation tank," the Eraser said. "I am saving you from it. And my name is Felix."

He held out a hand, and without thinking, I took it. It was big and strong and masculine and felt really really good in my hand. He hauled me to a standing position, and I looked around myself for the first time.

I had been lying in what looked like a coffin filled with water. Tubes and wires squirmed out from underneath it. We were in a room that was completely bare except for three other coffin-like things. I was dressed in a white hospital gown, and my wings unfolded out of the back. Plus, my hair was soaking wet and totally ruined.

I looked up at the Eraser, bracing myself – because really, what kind of a nerd name is Felix? – and had the shock of my life. He was _gorgeous. _He had the smoothest chocolate skin, a few shades darker than mine, and his eyes were warm like a fresh cup of coffee, before you put all the yummy stuff like milk and cream and sugar in it. His hair was braided back away from his head in thin braids that went past his shoulders, and he was somehow thin and muscular at the same time. He was outfitted in an unbuttoned leather jacket, showing off his smooth chest, a pair of khaki cargo pants, and black boots.

He was, like, the vision of my dream guy.

Except that he was (maybe) an Eraser.

He did have a few wolfish features – elongated canines, talon-like nails; but the fluffy wolf hair that was the most distinguished feature was all braided. It made an extremely macho picture.

I blushed. Really blushed, I mean, I don't think I've ever blushed harder (except that one time Gazzy walked in on me changing). I snatched my hand away and said, "Okay, if you're going to kill me, I promise I won't go down without a fight."

He looked confused. "Why would I want to kill you?"

"Um…because you're an Eraser?" I decided to just throw it out there, and if I was wrong, I guess I would just have to live with this depressingly gorgeous guy laugh at me before he killed me.

"So?" he asked. "Just because I'm an Eraser does not mean I want to kill you."

"Oh, so you're like Ari," I said, relieved. Then something occurred to me (I think for the second time today). "Wait, I thought all the Erasers were terminated years ago. So you're either lying between those white teeth or you're just amazingly good at surviving. Or maybe the whitecoats decided to keep you alive for some reason. I wonder why they might do that? Maybe because they felt bad for you for some reason? Or because they wanted to keep on experimenting on the Erasers even if they killed them all. Like having your cake and eating it too. Max always says I can't have my cake and eat it, too, but – oh!"

Realization hit me like a slap in the face. "Where _is _Max, anyway? What about the others? Are they all right? What's going on? Did you, like, abduct me or something? You better not have, Felix-the-maybe-possibly-Eraser, or else I'll kick your butt. I promise. I might act like a valley girl but I could kill someone like you very easily. So you better fess up _now _or I swear I'll –"

I stopped when I saw the amused expression on his face. And I'm telling you, I stopped cold.

"Relax," he said. "I do not know this _Max _person you are talking about. Nor do I doubt you could easily kill me if you chose. I hope you do not choose to do so. I have gone to many extremes to get you out of isolation. I can see you will not come with me of your own will, but please hear me out. If you do _not _choose to accompany me, I warn you: the men in white will return, and they will put you back in there." He pointed at the tank. "Perhaps indefinitely. I would strongly advise you to come with me."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Why do you talk so weird? I mean, come on. Have you ever heard of the 21st century? 'Cause we're in it. And no one here uses the words 'do not'. You put them together, like, 'don't'. Like that. And anyway, why would I, like, go with you? You're a stranger. You ever heard of "Stranger Danger"? Well, it exists. And also, who's in there?" I pointed at the other three coff-I mean, isolation tanks. "More people that you kidnapped?"

He put up his hands. "No. I have no idea who lies within those. Perhaps you should check."

I wrapped my wings around myself, because I was so cold, but they were also wet so it didn't help much.

"I think I will," I said, climbing out of the tank. The floor was cold, and slippery. I almost lost my balance, but Felix caught me. His hands were warm, and it took a lot of willpower to rip my shoulders from their grasp.

"Thank you," I said icily. Marching across the floor away from him, I tried to calm myself down. _Okay, so he's the hottest guy you've ever had the (mis)fortune to meet. He's an Eraser! Even if for some reason he found you attractive, Max would never approve…_I sighed and banished those thoughts to the back of my brain as I approached the first tank.

I grasped the lid and cracked it open. I saw the figure inside's face contort with pain as it pressed its fingers to its eyes. "Stop it, Max…" it moaned."Come on, turn off that light…it's too early…Turn off that light or I swear I'll fart on you."

"Gazzy?" I asked.

"N-nudge...?" he moaned. "I'll still fart on you…even if you're not Max…"

There was the sound of footsteps. "Why does he keep saying that?" Felix growled near my shoulder.

Gazzy let out a yell and bolted upright. As his head connected with the top, it flew out of my hands with a bang, knocking me backwards and into Felix. He stumbled and lost his balance on the slippery floor, falling on his butt. I fell with him, and we landed in a heap.

Blearily, I looked up at Gazzy to see that he had already forgotten about the Eraser. He lifted his arms and looked down at himself.

"Aargh!" he yelled. "Why am I all_ wet_?" He pulled at the sopping hospital pants he was clad in. "And, eew, what am I wearing? Is this Iggy's idea of a sick joke?"

He looked over at us and let out another yell. "Nudge! Get away! There's an Eraser underneath you!"

"I'm aware," I grumbled, untangling myself from Felix and scrambling to my feet. "But whether he's a good or bad Eraser is still un...un…" I glanced at him, searching for the word. "Unknown." I gave him my hand and helped him out of the tank. When his feet touched the floor, he opened his wings and gave them a good shake before wrapping them around his bare chest.

"It's cold in here," he commented. "Where are we?"

"No idea," I said, shooting Felix a glare. "You may want to ask him."

"Okay, where are we, Eraser?" Gazzy asked the figure on the floor politely.

"My name is Felix," Felix said. "We are in room 41B in the building known as the Academy in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States of America on the continent of North America on the planet Earth in the Milky Way galaxy in the Universe."

Gazzy watched him with a kind of awe. "Did he really just say that?" he whispered to me.

"I think so," I whispered back. "What's the Academy?" I asked louder.

"The building we are in."

"Yeah, I got that, somehow," I muttered. "Can you explain exactly what it is?"

"It is a facility similar to the School and the Institute for Higher Living," Felix said. "Its distinguishing feature is that it can pack up nearly everything in the entire building on a five day's notice and be completely gone, not even leaving a trace. Its claim to fame is having built the human/avian hybrid known as Dylan."

"Ooh, _really_?" I said. "This is _D__ylan's lab?_ That is so cool. Wow, I'm impressed. I guess the lab used to be in Ontario, correct?"

"Yes, at one point two or three years ago it was," he said. "It has moved twice since then, moving south with every move – first in Indianapolis, then in Chattanooga. And now, here we are in Atlanta. Let's check the next tank, shall we?"

"Huh?" Gazzy said. "You mean there are more people here?"

"Yes," I said. "Two more. In those two tanks. You take that one, I'll take this one."

He nodded and advanced to the nearest tank. I walked on ahead and cracked open the tank at the farthest end.

There was a banging sound from Gazzy's tank. He had thrown the top open carelessly and was peering at the contents with a slightly repulsed expression on his face. His fingers twitched like he wanted to slam the lid back down.

"What is it, Gazzy?" I asked fearfully, afraid that he might have uncovered some sort of dying mutant or something that was floating in blood instead of water.

"Dylan," he said.

I had to hold back a laugh as I turned back to my tank. Lifting the lid cautiously, I saw a small figure moan and turn on its side, away from the light, its hair trailing around its head in a golden halo.

"Good morning, Angel," I whispered to her.

She turned back over and looked at me, her blue eyes full of tears. I guess she could read my mind and see what I was thinking. She slowly sat up and pushed open the lid, closing her eyes against the light. I held out my arms to help her from the tank, but she wrapped her arms around me instead and leaned into my shoulder.

"What is it, sweetie?" I asked, rubbing her back.

**Nudge.**

I started at the sound of her voice in my mind._ What is it?_ I thought.

**Nudge, you can't say anything to Gazzy, Dylan, or Felix, but Max is in trouble. The whitecoats have her and she's in trouble.**

**!**

**R&R?**


	15. The Academy, Legit

**A/N: O hai evryone. Wuzz goin on?**

**I fink I wanna finishh dis fik befor Krismis. **

**Wash me fayl.**

**Dissclaymur: If u haffent figered it owt yet, I dnt own!1!1!1**

NPOV

Felix was impatient to leave, even I could see that. But I needed to make sure that everyone was okay. Even Dylan. Max would be mad at me if I just left him here. Plus also that would be mean. So I waited until everyone could stand steady on their feet before turning to the gorgeous Eraser.

"So where are we going, exactly?" I asked him. "I mean, not that I trust you or anything. Or that I'm going to follow you or anything. I just want to see where you have in mind before we go with you, you know?"

He nodded. "We are going to go out of the door, and then down some stairs, through a hallway, down some more stairs, through another hallway, and then up some stairs. We will then exit the Academy. From there we will figure out what to do."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Are you sure you're taking us outside?"

He nodded again. "Quite sure."

His use of the word _quite _made me want to giggle, but I held it in. "Okay, then," I sighed. "I suppose we have nothing better to do. Lead on, Felix."

He nodded (third time! omg) and went over to the door. Opening it carefully, he peered out and then beckoned to us. Quietly, we followed him, tiptoeing through the archway like little mice babies (Is it mice babies or mouse babies? Because mice is plural, and babies is plural, but mouse babies sounds better…I think it's mouse babies…anyway).

He lead us straight to some stairs like he promised. Opening the door at the top, he glanced over his shoulder and whispered, "Now would be a good time to figure out if you trust me or not. There are no lights in this stairwell, and no one will be able to hear you scream."

My mouth opened, my lips moved, forming words I'd never expected to hear. The Gasman nodded. "If Nudge trusts you, I do too." He squeezed my hand, and Angel, who I was giving a piggyback ride to, nodded. Dylan was strangely silent, and I actually looked to see if he was still there. His expression was dazed and confused, and I knit my brows.

"You OK, Dylan?" I asked him. Mouth slightly open, he nodded. I shook my head in confusion and stored to scene away for later.

We crept into the stairwell. As Dylan passed through the door, it swung quietly closed behind him, latching with a loud click. Just as Felix had predicted, the second the door closed, it became pitch dark in the stairwell. I gripped Angel tightly and felt for a handrail, feeling the Gasman's hand on my back. I felt for the first stair, inching down it.

"I feel like Iggy," Gazzy whispered. My eyes filled with tears. _Where _is_ Iggy? _I wondered to myself. _And Fang, and Max? Where are they? Why weren't they with us? What's going on?_

"Me too," I whispered back, not saying anything that was on my mind. Angel, hearing my thoughts, gave me a squeeze.

"It's gonna be OK," she murmured in my ear.

We reached the first landing. I would have bumped into Felix if he hadn't said something. "The stairs end here," he said, his voice echoing all the way down the stairwell. I walked off the last step and stopped, the Gasman and Dylan still on the stairs.

"Is everybody here?" Felix asked, and there was an assortment of "yeah"'s and "uh-huh"'s.

"Good," he said, opening a door.

Light spilled in, and I shielded my eyes, blinking fast. Felix, recovering with superhuman speed, walked out of the stairwell and into the hallway. It was white, sterile-smelling, generally giving the vibe of evil, we all know the drill. Felix strolled down the hall like he knew no one was there and that we wouldn't get caught.

"Felix!" I hissed. I hurried to catch up with him. "What are you doing? We're going to get caught! And then we'll go back in the isolation tanks! And this will all be a waste! And we'll never see Max or Fang again!"

"Or Iggy," the Gasman added.

"We do not need to sneak around." Felix's voice was low, serious. "They still think I am on their side. If I am seen walking with you, they will assume I am authorized. But one thing I am definitely not allowed to do is –"

"Max!" Angel said suddenly.

I looked over at her. "What are you…." I began, following her gaze. Then I saw the label on the door she was looking at. It read:

E.I.P.  
MAXIMUM RIDE

"E.I.P.?" I asked. "What does that stand for?"

"Experiment In Progress," Dylan said hollowly. "That means that they have Max in there. And she's getting experimented on."

I turned my gaze to Dylan, horrified. "But…" I stopped when I realized that I didn't have an argument. "We have to get her!" I proclaimed.

"…free other experiments," Felix finished drily.

"I don't care what you're authorized to do," I said. "We have to get Max out of there. No matter what."

Without really having a plan, I advanced on the door, reaching for it with one hand. Felix yelled, "No, Nudge!" just as I twisted it open.

The scene inside that met my eyes made my gut clench. Max was lying on a table, her face covered by an oxygen mask. Her hair spilled out around her head – for some reason I saw some curls. Curls? What? Max didn't have curly hair. Five whitecoats were hunched over her, and one was holding a syringe. As four of them looked up, the last one, the one with the syringe, never glanced away from his work, which was injecting the needle slowly into her arm.

"Excuse me!" said the lead whitecoat, standing and ripping off his surgeon's mask. Oh, yeah, they were all wearing surgeon masks, I forgot to mention.

"Oh, hello," I said. "Nice day, isn't it? Oh – looks like you have a little somethin'-somethin' that belongs to me, there. I'm afraid I need it back."

"Someone pull the alarm!" one shouted. "Subjects seven, nine, eleven, Alpha, and 110 are disrupting the experiment!"

As he finished, the whitecoat with the syringe finished and drew it out of her arm. Max's body spasmed, and then her entire spine lifted from the table, her oxygen mask flying off as she let loose with a soul-shattering scream. Me, Gazzy, and Angel all screamed too, and Dylan pushed past us. He snatched up the still bucking Max and tossed her over his shoulder, saluting the whitecoats.

"Thanks for your business," he said, and sprinted out. I aimed a punch at the lead whitecoat, making him double over. "That's what you get for messing with Max," I told him, then hitched Angel up on my back and booked it after Dylan, Gazzy, and Felix.

We bolted down the hall, down some more stairs (these ones had lights, thank God), through another hallway, and then up some stairs. These stairs went on for what seemed like forever, spiraling upward and upward until, our breathing heavy, we pushed open a trapdoor in the ceiling and climbed out into what looked like a janitor's closet.

"Is everyone good?" I asked. Everyone nodded; too spent to answer. I really wanted to look Max over, who still jerked occasionally, but it wasn't a good place. Or time. We could look her over once we got out of here.

"Hide your wings, everybody," I said, "just in case, you know, this goes outside or something."

Felix opened the door, and we emerged into…an elementary school?

That's what it looked like, at least. School was almost out for the year, and the walls were decorated with summer-y art. There was a class transition going on, and the hallway was filled with kindergarten through fifth graders, all waiting in line for the bathroom or getting water or stuff like that.

"Huh?" I said.

"Huh?" everyone else said.

"Huh?" said a third grader who happened to be walking by when the door opened. Her gaze traveled over me, Gazzy, Angel, Dylan with the limp Max, who gave a twitch just as the girl looked at her, to Felix.

Her mouth opened. A bloodcurdling shriek issued from it. All the other kids silenced, looked at us, and began to shriek as well. They all pushed away from us, leaving a big circle of about a six-foot diameter around us.

"What?" I said, annoyed. "Freakiness isn't contagious, you know."

"Come on!" the Gasman said, pulling my arm. "Look!" He pointed to the end of the hall, where a swarm of teachers was running towards us.

"Crap." I jumped, then dashed through the crowd. The others all followed me, and we raced for the exit, shoving the doors open and racing outside. I glanced at Felix's back – no wings. Double crap. We ran through the front yard of the school, the sun warm on my face and arms, sprinting across the street and down a small hill to a thickly wooded area.

As soon as we made it past the trees, I collapsed onto my knees, Angel crawling off my back. The rest also fell to the ground. Max was finally still, and after I had caught my breath, I crawled to her.

"Max?" I said, shaking her. "Max!"

Her eyelids fluttered and opened. My face broke into a smile. "Max! You're okay! You're alive!"

"Of course I am, silly," she said, reaching for my hand. I clasped hers.

"What happened?" I cried. "Where were you guys? Where are Fang and Iggy?"  
She gasped and sat up quickly, her eyes widening. "Oh, my God," she said. "Oh, no. Fang, Iggy, Paisley…Oh, no."

She looked at me. "We need to get out of here," she said, standing. We all stood with her, but when she spread her wings, I felt like some introductions needed to be made.

"Max?" I said calmly. "This is Felix. He's…an Eraser."

Max studied him. Her eyes narrowed. "What are you doing with an Eraser?" she said.

"He kind of saved us," I said. "If it weren't for Felix, we'd all be in isolation right now. Except for you. You'd be…I don't know. What _was_ going on back there, anyway? Do you remember anything?"

She shook her head. "No. I don't. Does he have wings?" She pointed at Felix, who frowned.

"I can talk," he said. "And no, I do not have wings."

She sighed. "I guess we'll have to go on foot, then," she said, spinning on her heel and marching off.

"Where are we going?" I asked. She hardly looked back.

"For pizza," Max said.

**I know it's short, but…short and sweet! Heh. Maybe?**

**R&R! O_o**


	16. And The Day Is Saved

**Okay, guys. One more chap after this and then we're done. Yay! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own..**

MPOV

It took us about an hour and a half to walk across town back to Mellow Mushroom, a trip that would otherwise have taken about five minutes if we'd been flying. But noooo, we had to take the Eraser. That precious little Eraser. Okay, call me a hypocrite because of the whole Ari thing, but Nudge, honey, I am not missing the cow eyes you're making at him. Please don't even go there.

Anyway, when we finally got to the pizza place, my feet were killing me. I was not looking forward to the long walk ahead, through that tunnel. In fact my shoes were still a little wet, and I didn't want my toes to get frostbite again. Plus, I was feeling dizzy and shaky. I guessed it was from whatever the hell they were doing to me back at the lab, but something - I can't put my finger on what - told me that that wasn't true.

Iggy was in there. He'd tell me what was wrong. Iggy was going to give me the answer.

We approached the place. It was open, which was a surprise. I was half-expecting it to be closed since we'd broken in the night before, but I guess they didn't want to take a chance and lose any customers, since nothing had been stolen. I frowned. It would be hard to get Felix, Gazzy, and Dylan into the girl's bathroom without raising more than a few eyebrows. Moreover, it would be even harder to get only us in there without letting in anyone else.

We went in. The others started to make their ways toward the tables, but I called them back. "We're going to the restroom," I murmured, and even though they were obviously confused, all the kids followed me.

I opened the door. A few women were standing in there, waiting to pee. I bit my lip and backed out, shaking my head.

"Okay, guys, here's the deal," I said to the rest, gathering them into a big huddle. "Me, Ange, and Nudge are going to go in there. You three guys stand here. Don't let anyone else in. There are four women in there right now. When all four leave, you guys come in."

The boys nodded slowly, looking puzzled. I held out my fist, and Angel, Nudge, and Gazzy stacked theirs on top. We tapped and split, Gaz staying outside and the rest of us going into the bathroom.

I don't think I've ever waited so long for four people to use the bathroom, wash their hands (read: reapply makeup, fix hair, adjust clothing, push back cuticles, and wash hands) and then leave. But once they had, and finally left, the boys waiting about ten seconds and then quickly slipped inside.

Nudge locked the door.

"Alright, kiddos," I said. "Watch and be amazed." With confidence, I stepped up to the giant poster of the whitecoat on the wall, pressing hard on his eyes. The sinks rumbled away from the wall, grating to a stop after a moment.

"What will people think when they hear that?" Angel wondered.

"You know what Gazzy sounds like after taco night," Nudge said, shrugging. "You know. Bowel movement, and all."

Choking back a laugh, I stepped into the tunnel, turning back to see their faces. "Well? You guys coming?"

**!**

FPOV

I wasn't sure which was worse: the pain, or the hunger.

I was so hungry. There was no way to know how much time had passed down here, but I felt like I hadn't eaten in days. My stomach was rebelling against me, turning inside out, and eating itself all at the same time. I was hunched over in the corner, trying to ignore the godawful cramps that were gripping me.

The pain, though, was right up there with it. My head was in agony. My brain was getting invaded by aliens. The wound had stopped bleeding a while ago, but my hair was sticky with half-dried blood. There was no ignoring it: my eyes were squeezed shut in an attempt to distract myself somehow, and my hands had been in fists for so long that I was a little worried that they'd be like that forever.

Oh, and did I mention that my ears were bleeding from Iggy's complaining?

"I'm soooo hungry..." he moaned, right on cue.

I opened one eye a tiny crack to glance at him. He was squirming on the floor, clutching his stomach. Poor guy: used to eating all day, every day, his tummy must be trying to kill itself.

Paisley was just sitting in a corner. She hadn't spoken since she'd realized that we were locked in. She'd barely even moved.

"I have to peeeeeee..."

"Iggy, shut up. Please."

"But Fang..."

"Hello?"

I froze. Was it a whitecoat? Please, no. I wouldn't be able to fight back now if it was.

"Fang, are you in there?"

My spirits soared. "Max! Can you hear me?"

"Yes!"

Her voice was strong, but distant. I crawled to the door, flopping down on my empty stomach and pushing my hand through the slit between the ground and the door. "Max, you're here," I said.

A warm hand curled around my fingers. "Of course I'm here. I would never leave you," she said quietly.

"Cut it out, guys. We need to get them out, and then you can have all the face time you need," said a cross voice. I lifted my head.

"Nudge? Is that you?"

"The one and only," giggled Nudge.

"Who else is there?"

"Angel, the Gasman, Dylan, and Felix," she relayed. I wasn't sure who Felix was, but at the moment I didn't care. I was so happy.

"Gazzy!" Iggy cried, pushing me to the side. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," came a little-boy voice. "I missed you, Iggy."

Iggy's smile stretched all the way around the world.

"I missed you too, little buddy," he said. "And Angel? You there?"

"Yeah," came Angel's sweet little voice. "I'm right here."

"Come on, guys," said Paisley's voice, suddenly right next to my ear. "Let's get out of here. I want to see what they look like in person."

"Paisley! Is that you?" Max called.

"Yeah," she said.

"Your drawings are a pretty dang accurate representation," Max laughed. Then her voice changed to surprise. "Gazzy? What are you doing?"

"Getting them out," Gaz's voice said determinedly. The doorknob jiggled, and all three of us watched it with riveted eyes until it was pushed down with a violent force. We leapt back quickly, and just in time, because Gaz threw it open with a shout and they all spilled into the small room.

The only one I had eyes for was Max. She ran to me, and I stood and caught her up in my arms, holding her tight to my chest as she dissolved.

"It's okay," I said, stroking her back. "It's all okay now. It's all over."

**!**

After we'd all said our hellos, Iggy demanded that we go back upstairs and eat some pizza. My stomach couldn't agree more. I had never been so hungry in my life.

I held Max's hand as we trudged back up the tunnel. I really actually wanted to do a lot more than just hug and hold hands, but now was not the time. Max could wait; my stomach could not. I was starving, and every step took us closer to food.

I guess I can say I'm a real man, after all.

We burst out from the sinks without thinking. If someone had been in the restroom at the time, they would have had the nutter butters scared out of them. But everything was going right, for once. We emerged to an empty bathroom, and quickly scurried out to the restaurant.

Sitting down, Iggy immediately ordered six large pizzas. When asked what he wanted on them, he said, "I don't care. Just do whatever's fastest. If you get it here in under seven minutes your wallet will be happy."

Needless to say, our food was here fast. Iggy and I both ate an entire one by ourselves. The Felix guy, who I supposed was the Eraser who saved Nudge and the others - she'd mentioned an Eraser and Felix, but never connected the two - didn't hesitate to chow down himself. Dylan had about two slices, and then took off - probably to find Maya somewhere. I didn't care, just hoped that I'd seen that last of his annoying little...self. Max didn't even look back at him when he went, and my inner Neanderthal roared with approval.

We mainly just shoved our faces for about an hour and basically had an awesome time eating pizza. Paisley was right - it was fabulous pie. And as soon as I thought that, I looked over at her and said, "Shouldn't we be getting you home soon?"

She nodded. "Yeah, probably."

"Me and Max will take you," I said. "The rest of you should stay here with Felix, and we'll be back in twenty minutes." I glanced at Max, half expecting a reprimand, but instead she looked relieved that someone else was taking charge momentarily.

A few minutes later, we were airborne; Paisley riding piggyback on me. I was surprised I could even fly, I was so stuffed. In no time at all we had dropped Paisley off on her back porch, said goodbye, and then left again. But not for the pizza place. We took off for a patch of woods a mile away and crash-landed in each other's arms.

God, that was what I had been missing. Max kissed me hungrily, and I pulled her harshly to lay flush against my body, holding her tight.

When she pulled back, her eyes were sparkling, her lips red and swollen. I pulled her in so that she was held tight against my chest.

"Never leave me again," I murmured to her.

"I won't," she murmured back, and then looked me in the eye. "Fang?"

"Mmm?"

"Please forgive me," she murmured.

In answer to her request, I crushed her lips back to mine.

**!**

IPOV

We were finally back home. It was nice to sit down on my couch again, listening to the sounds of Nudge and Gazzy arguing about who left the huge mess in the kitchen. I felt kind of like I should be helping clean up, but at that moment, I was just content to sit and smile to myself.

Unfortunately, of course, that wasn't possible.

I felt the couch cushion dip as someone sat next to me. Max, judging by the weight. There was a crinkling noise like she was leaning forward, and she said, "Iggy, can we talk?"

I sighed. "I knew this was coming." Turning my head towards her, I saw the glow - still small, but it was definitely there. I felt like I could reach out and touch it, but if what Paisley had said was true, then I would only be able to in...a little while. But not now.

"Then let's skip the details," Max said. "You know what I want."

I kept my gaze focused on the spot. It was clearly outlined, a white spot in a world of darkness. I remember before I had gone blind, back at the School - if you looked at the lights for too long, it left an imprint on your eyes, and whenever you closed your eyes the image was there, dancing on the back of your eyelids. It was like that, except my eyes would never open.

"Do you really think you're ready to know?" I asked her. The couch creaked again, but the spot didn't move. So Fang was here too.

"Yes," Max said firmly.

I took a deep breath.

"Max...you're pregnant."

**Reviews, mayhap? Next chapter shall be out swiftly!**


	17. Fin

**A/N: Hey, everyone.**

**Screw this. –bawls- It's the last chap.. I am half excited, half sad, and half confused about why I have three halves. I'm going to start the chap now and do the thanking at the end.**

**Disclaimer: JP probably doesn't give a crap about his fans.**

Night was my new favorite time of day, I decided.

Fang and I were up on the roof, lying back against the cold, hard shingles. His arm was around my shoulders as we both looked up at the cold night sky, sparkling with diamond chip stars.

My mind was still spinning. _Pregnant? Couldn't be._ But the nagging feeling told me that that was it. I was pregnant – the hormones were what had been making me feel so weird and sick and horny all the time. The curly hair, I guess, was part of that as well, which didn't make it any less weird. Max with curls? Well, I guess we would see what that would end up looking like.

Fang broke the silence. "Do you have the letter?" he asked.

"Right here in my pocket." Even though I knew what he wanted, I didn't pull it out just yet. "Hey, Fang?"

"Mmm."

"Are you sure you want to read it?" I asked. "You know, you might not…like what it says."

"As long as it doesn't say anything about Dylan, I don't care." Fang gave a low chuckle and tightened his hold on my shoulder, pulling me closer to his side. "I don't want to if you don't want to," he added, dropping a kiss into my hair.

I played with his fingers. "I don't know…"

"We could wait until after," he said. He shifted so that he was lying on his side, and put the arm not wrapped around me out so that it was touching my still-flat stomach. "If you want."

"Uggh." I knew I wouldn't be able to stand waiting. "Let's read it now."

I reached into the back pocket of my jeans, pulling out the letter. I unfolded it and held it straight up, letting the moonlight shine through the paper and illuminate the ink. Then I began reading.

_Max-_

_By now you probably know that you're pregnant. If you don't know that yet, then, well, you are. Iggy is correct. And if you're wondering about Iggy's new power, he can see through your skin – basically like a human ultrasound, lol. But all he can see is the baby inside, glowing white. He'll be able to see it no matter what – through other people, through walls, floors, anything. But once your child is born, he or she will become invisible to him once more._

_I wasn't sure if you wanted to know the gender of your baby or not. I can tell you that. I can tell you what you'll name the kid. I can tell you who they'll look more like; which one they'll take more after personality-wise. But I decided to keep that stuff to myself. I think it's all in the fun of parenting. Not that I've ever been a parent, but I remember when my mom was pregnant with my brother Micah. And trust me, I wish I could forget. Fang, don't worry – it's just hormones, but after the baby's born, you'll get the awesome kick-ass Max back._

_One more thing. Felix. He's a good guy, but please keep your eyes open. I know what will happen, but watch Nudge. She really likes him. If you aren't careful it'll slip out of your control. Just giving you a heads-up._

_Ta ta._

_Paisley_

I let my arm drop, but Fang took the letter from me, finishing it. After a minute, he let his head fall back on the shingles again, letting out a huge breath.

"So it's really happening," he said.

"Yeah." I closed my eyes. "Life."

It was silent for a moment. I spoke my thoughts out loud. "Do you think Iggy can see me now?"

"Probably," Fang admitted grudgingly. He paused. "But I guess that's a good thing. He's like a baby bodyguard."

I laughed. "Yeah. Kinda." I was glad he was looking on the bright side; I was worried he might be miffed that Iggy got to see the baby before he did. "Fang?"

"What?"

"Do you think that the baby will have wings?"

Fang stilled. "Huh. Yeah, probably. I mean, I don't see why not." He squeezed my arm. "I mean, both of its parents have them."

I smiled into the night sky.

"Hey, Fang?"

"Yes, Max?" His tone was patient, with a hint of a smile.

"I love you," I said, and looked up at him. He put his hand under my chin, smiling for real.

"I love you too," he said, and kissed me.

_.fin._

**(Couldn't resist ending with some Fax!)**

**Okay. Thank you time.**

**I don't know if any of you know this, but this is my first full-length story that I've completed thus far. And I honestly couldn't have done it without any of you guys, as cheesy as that sounds. Your urges to update, caps lock fever, and praise for this story really helped get it through to the end, and I really can't thank you enough. So, yeah. Thank you to all.**

**m4tigers**

**Rhaksha Ora**

**peanutbuttermonster**

**hicharlotte**

**pancakes-for-you**

**therandomnessthatiam**

**Trapped In Narnia**

**Serenaisbestezrq387**

**Xx-ThisSucks-xX**

**my-wings-help-me-fly-away**

**Sierra156**

**MaximumRideFanAddict**

**JealousMindsThinkAlike**

**wolfhead**

**ckayv**

**I love every single one of you and am so, so thankful that you took the time to give me feedback on this story. If I missed anyone (no anonymous reviewers were mentioned, even though you guys are awesome too!) just give me a ringy-ding in a PM or something.**

**Oh! Almost forgot~! I am currently WRITING A SEQUEL :O It will not be posted until I have finished every single one of my current in-progress fics. BUT! It shall be posted. The title is _Forgiven_ (see what I did there? lawlz) and it is a cross-sequel with Typical Mutant..**

**See you then!**

**~TheCatWithTheHat**


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